1.06.2009

I'm Not Wearing Bifocals - Yet.

Do you remember how old 30 used to seem? I'm pretty sure for a few years I even convinced myself I would NEVER be 30. That theory is now shot.

I was chatting with some friends the other day and we were recounting the first time we felt old - not just 'oh, it's my birthday, I'm so old', but an actual event that reminded us we are no longer kids.

For me, it happened probably two years ago. I was with one of my girlfriends whom I've known since we were twelve. I was living in Bellingham at the time and had come down to visit her in Seattle. We'd gone out for dinner and decided that we would go home and make cocktails and watch movies.

We were close to University Village (which is right next to the University of Washington) so we decided to hit the liquor store there. It was a Friday night and pretty busy (unsurprisingly). We got our supplies to make some cosmos and checked out. Out in the parking lot next to our car, we noticed a couple of guys loading something like 30 cases of beer into the back of a truck.

Being friendly (and amused), one of us, and I'm not sure who, said 'Whoa, looks like some party!'

It became silent. I mean, they literally said nothing. They quickly loaded the rest of their booze, jumped in the truck and all but peeled out of the parking lot.

We stood there, somewhat stunned for a few seconds. Then we doubled over into uncontrollable fits of laughter.

We were creepy older women! When did that happen? Did they think we wanted an invite to their soiree? It was a hilarious yet bittersweet realization - we were no longer in that peer group.

When did you first feel old? Or have you been lucky enough to avoid it thus far?

2 comments:

Andrea said...

When I get called Ma'am, that usually does it. Or when Rusty tells me that Doug Sutton is the ONLY teacher still at Mt. Baker that was there when we were.

Heather D said...

Doug Sutton is the ONLY one? Yeah that, and people that were behind us in school are teaching at there now too.