Take Back the Birthday went exceedingly well, if I do say so myself. A few friends, red wine (including a bottle of Irony Pinot Noir—I’m keeping that bottle forever), good cheeses and other sundries, music, and Apples to Apples (a kickass game) make for a wonderful midweek impromptu birthday celebration. Had Take Back the Birthday been on a weekend night, I probably would have gone for a blowout, but perhaps it was a good thing to wade back into being happy about having a birthday. Good times.
The only thing that gives me pause about the whole birthday thing is that I’m now officially in my mid-thirties. There’s nothing “early” about thirty-four. I have one more year of the snappy twenty-eight to thirty-four age bracket, and then the long, slow slide begins.
The thought of aging has always freaked me out. My mother caught me weeping on the porch when I was three, and when she asked me what was wrong, I cried, “I don’t want my little beedes to get big! I want to stay a kid forever!” (This is one of her favorite stories to tell about me. It gets laughs.) Time passed, and I got over my “beedes” getting big, but the essential Peter Pan feeling has remained with me. I loved being young. I loved all the possibility. The choices. Thinking about all those potential paths disappearing breaks my heart.
Still, though the thought of thirty-four freaks me out a bit, I don’t feel so bad today. Maybe I’m finally figuring out that most of our limits are those we place on ourselves. I don’t know. It’s something to think about. But first I'm going to go outside and play. It's beautiful out.
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12 comments:
Oh Sass - think of all the wonderful things you can do now that you couldn't do when you were 3.. Like spell words of two or more syllables.. and ride a two wheeler bike..
Glad your birthday went well.. I like the sound of it - you'll have to post the rules to the apples game, hey?
Sass, you'll discover you're the same person inside your head no matter what age you are. It's really only the physical fallibility that can age us.
Oh, and I have a little friend who never wanted to be more than three, or go to school. She's the baby in her family and was afraid, I think, that she'd catch up with her siblings and lose her special status.
I'm right with you, Sassy. Getting old sucks. And 34 is old. Old, old, old. I know because I'm 33.
I'd rather not be able to spell if it meant that I didn't have to worry about stuff like work and rent and getting up in the morning.
Best to just try to act like a three year old whenever its not dangerous and especially irritating...
You are so right about our limits being self-imposed. I love those people in their 80s who say they think of themselves as being 24. I want to be like that.
You want a good card game, try Gloom. You basically are trying to kill off your characters with negative pathos points while keeping your opponents characters alive by giving them positive pathos points and keeping them happy. The person with the most negative points at the end of the game wins.
As for ages, we are NOT old (I'm 33). I refuse to believe that.
Happy Birthday, Sassy! I'm sorry I'm a day late, but I'm so glad you were able to reclaim the day.
And 34 is certainly not old. Nor is 35, for that matter. Hell, you're just now getting to the good parts...leaving some of the insecurities of your 20's behind with lots of great road ahead ;>
34 is still extremely young - trust me, I know about these things - they don't call me Conor for nothing
Kids!
Huh!
I hit fifty next year and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
Well, I guess this makes me the oldest - nearly 52! Sassy, your life will be wonderful and when you're 50, you won't want to be 34 any more. You will still feel young at heart and if a few bones creak, well who cares. In the meantime, have fun, carpe diem as you are wont to do and don't worry about a thing. M.B never worries and at 63, he looks 50! The secret, according to him is to continually look forward, never backward. BTW, when my stepson Christopher was 7 and I was turning 35, I said that I was middle aged (on the basis of 3 score years and ten); Christopher said that I wouldn't be middle aged until I hit 50 which meant that I would live to 100. I asked him if he thought I would live to 100 and he said, "yeah, I think so." Out of the mouths of babes, Sassy! (Sorry about all of the cliches but sometimes they just fit).
Kimba, you're right, I know. I like riding a bike without training wheels... Apples to Apples is a card game, and you need the cards to play.
Conan, I'm figurin that out.
Gimme a Minute, I wish I still had a minute of being 33. It was fun.
Robyn, my aging idol is Maude from Harold & Maude (except for the suicide part). She's who I want to be.
Before Girl, I'll give that one a whirl. Apples to Apples is more social, but a little killing can be fun, eh? I know it's not old, but sometimes it feels it.
Thanks, Terroni.
Thanks, Conor, you thirty-year-old wise man.
Dive, I knew you'd make me feel better.
You speak wise words, Mme Benaut. Thank you.
Hold on there Sassy. Your thirties are a great time. I'm now in my forties and I don't feel old. I don't even look old. I think it's all in how you decide to go about it. My ex.... now he decided to be old when he was twenty five. I flat out refuse to go there.
Besides, haven't you heard? 40 is the new 20.....
I was at an event last week with a load of people in their 70's and they were amazing. Will never bitch again about being old - well at least not for another few days.
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