Miscellaneous

34

By Chris Stevenson

I turned 34 years old on Sunday. It's weird to look at that number and think that's the number of years I've been around. 34 seems like a lot, when you're talking about years living. A lot has happened during that time; both to me and in the world at large. If there's one constant it's that time keeps passing. I've experienced periods when time seemed to move very slowly, but these days it seems to go by fast. The hours of the workday evaporate. The alarm clock goes off seemingly right after I close my eyes to go to sleep. I think once you reach a certain age and realize how short life is you want for things to slow down so you can take everything in and enjoy it. Really though, the sensation of time passing fast or slow is just an illusion and time passes at the same rate always.

Every birthday is a milestone; not just for me, but for everybody. Each age has some meaning or common experience tied to it. When you tell someone, "I'm 34" that illicits an automatic interpretation from people. When I was 24 I think 34 must have sounded pretty damned old, but I can't really remember what I thought. When my dad was 34 I was 15 and I'm pretty sure I thought he was an old man at the time. How wrong I was. When you tell someone, "I'm 21" that gets a response too. Usually a knowing wink or grin from someone who has already passed by there. Same with every age. It's like an identifier. Like a name or a career.

There are a lot of myths about youth. Most people look wistfully back at their younger days and wish they could go back knowing what they know now. That's impossible. The truth is, when you are young you are ignorant. I don't think I'd trade the ignorance for being a little more spry and having more hair. I'm curious what 44, 54 and 64 will feel like. I mean, I can certainly wait to find out.

I'm not really sure what the point of this post is. Reading it back to myself it sounds a little depressing, but I didn't mean for it to be. Overall I'm happy with where I'm at and I've got a great many things to be thankful for and to look forward to. Mostly, I'm just glad I got to live for another year.

Full post as published by Cursed With Ambition on March 11, 2008 (boomark / email).