this is what happens when people in their 30s drink
Tonight I’m going to Largo and I’m flashing back to the first time I went there, on my third date with this guy Mike I dated for about four dates when I was 23. He was 31 and really nice and introduced me to a lot of good small music venues, but the problem was he was a full-fledged grown-up. He talked about things like buying a house, which at the time was a giant tu
Lately I’ve found myself beginning a lot of sentences with, “The older I get…” or “Now that I’m in my 30s…” Just last night, AK, Alanna and I—all of us between the ages of 31 and 32—had a whole discussion on the things being in one’s 30s might involve, including:
- marriage
- children
- wearing nicer clothes even though we still can’t afford them
- the fact that we are in our prime—no longer are we aspiring whatevers, or whatevers with a lot of potential. We just are what we are, and this is our chance to be really good at it, or not, which is so crazy-scary to me.
Why am I so obsessed with my age? I’ve been aging for 31 years now, and if anything, my rate of change has slowed down. It would have made more sense if I’d spent my freshman year in college marveling at how different I was from when I was a 17-year-old high school kid.
But maybe part of getting older is being able to witness yourself change, and being dull enough to narrate the experience. Because when I was a freshman in college, I was too busy fighting with my roommate and crying over the sadder songs in Les Mis.
Or is it that I’m having some kind of late retu
Friday night I accompanied AK to an alumni meeting of an urban outreach program she worked with in college. We gathered in a ramshackle, un-air-conditioned church in
Instead I just took the night as a reminder that, even as a seasoned grown-up, I can and should let me surroundings affect me. I’m old enough and lucky enough to know what I want to focus on, but it’s also good to let my vision go blurry once in a while and just stare up at the beams of the church ceiling and wait for whatever’s next.
On Friday, what was next was margaritas with Suzie and Sean, which was, of course, followed by a conversation about being in our 30s.
Comments
I laugh with my BFF (who is married, with two kids) how seriously grown up she felt when she first bought a refrigerator at age 29.
'On My Own' and 'A Little Fall of Rain' still make me almost-cry.
i have a feeling i will be having a nervous breakdown once i turn 39.
J: I don't think growing up necessitates any of those things, just that maybe they cross your mind more; also, lots of immature people do have houses and kids and spouses, so it's not like those things are trophies of grown-up-ness (even though some people try to pass them off as such).
As for the clothes: No, not preppy, just better made. I still try to dress like the wannabe art-punk I've always been, but now I like my jackets to have linings. Call me a sell-out, but it's true.
You are so young. You will achieve great things. Other stuff--well, you'll face disappointment. But who cares?
I never wanted to be more than about twenty-three. So silly.
oh, and ucla's 14-hour mandatory orientation, does NOT make me happy. even though you were present for a moment when i saw the garden (boca) burgers they sell at ucla's many food stands. although, that helped.
But oh, how I remember overdosing on veggie burgers during my first quarter at UCLA. It seems good now, but 12 orientation-week barbecues later....