26 August 2005

overheard

last friday, I was trying on clothes at urban outfitters when I overheard two employees talking:

"it's my birthday today."

"really? happy birthday! how old are you?"

"um. I don't want to say. you'll laugh."

"oh, come on."

(insert dramatic pause, resigned-sounding exhalation from the birthday girl here)

"I'm... 24."

"hey, that's not too bad. really. now, if you'd said 29. or 30. well..."

people, as I stood in that dressing room half-naked and eavesdropping (ezra flinging lipstick from my purse in every direction), I did not know whether to laugh or to cry.

12 comments:

  1. I work in an industry where I'm becoming the Matriarch because I'm 31! So I know how it feels to be considered "old" once I was past 25. No offense to 23-year-olds as 23 is a fantastic age (my husband is 23)- but the 30s are WAY BETTER. I love being in my thirties!!!!

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  2. ok - now i'm feeling really old..

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  3. It is interesting to slowly see the age differences between being in your 20's and your 30's. When I was in my 20's, I definitely was very involved with me myself and I -- completely engaged with myself and my colleagues. TV and movies bowed down to us, ads and commercials pandered to us -- they still do to this day. Everything is so focused on the hip and cool, which is what being in your 20's is pretty much all about. You are working on your identity at that stage of your life. You go through stuggles and misunderstandings based on assumptions you gather while growing up and being in your teens.

    The 30's are definitely better, as everything starts to fall into place. You get wiser to such things as relationships and you become more aware of others and your surroundings. You don't think for youself anymore as you have others to provide for and take care of. Yes, marriage and children, and all that.

    I've never felt so alive now that I'm in my 30's! It's almost a nice secret that the 20-somethings don't know anything about. (Although I've let the cat out of the bag, now, huh?) A secret club that they can't enter until they reach a certain age -- how's that for exclusitivity? Take that, suckas! I've embraced my 30's with aplomb and i'm enjoying every single minute of it.

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  4. laugh honey laugh! and be glad you aren't 24 again! :) [not that 24 was bad, but....]

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  5. oh, so funny. i recently had a conversation about this same thing with some friends. it's so ironic because I still "feel" 24, until I am around 24 year olds. Then I realize how different my life is from theirs.

    Great post, fun to overhear such things. (lulu)

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  6. very funny.
    I'm 29 and personally really look forward to my 30s!
    at that age... ward is right, it is so self-consuming so the idea of being older having kids... this "normal" life. It seems really unglamorous at that age. BUT I LOVE IT! All i could think about then was how much of myself I would have to give up. What I couldn't imagine was how much I would love it.

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  7. You know, Oprah says that the 40's are better than the 30's and the 50's even better yet! There's hope...Of course, since Oprah's only 51, I'm not sure if the trend continues, or if things really fall apart in your sixties and beyond. For me, I just want to age gracefully and pray that my plastic surgery still looks good in 25 years!

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  8. oh my my my...I did not need to read that! LOL. Should I drown myself now that my usefulness in this life is over? (sigh) I wouldn't be 24 again if you paid me!

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  9. i agree with ward and glam jo......it's a well kept secret but the 30's are better. i turn 32 next week and it's so funny because turning 30 was this big ordeal but now that i am here i love it. there is alot to be said for years of living. there are some things in life you just have to live through. it's like age gives you tools to use to deal with life, so when ish comes up you have something to work with now. i wouldn't go back to my 20's .... no way. i read a quote from minnie driver in a magazine that talked about how much she loved her 30's because she felt like she actually knows who she is alot more now. i totally agree.

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  10. as a 20something (who feels like an old 18 yr old!) I totally agree with everybody, it's not all that, life is uncertain, ur uncertain, but, & maybe I actually am mature??? but hearing what some of the teenage females at my job have to say about each other & people they don't know and who aren't size 0-5/6, it's appalling to say the least, & some people I wanna double check they are in their 20s or 30s b/c they don't act like it. ur at a great age, I think, giving ur students a great melange of experience, knowledge, and being able to say 'hey watch me first' & demonstrate. Age is all relative and totally in a person's mind. ur pretty much living the amerian dream-married, 2 kids, job u love, living in a rockin' city and this great blog!

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  11. I am loving reading your blog. thank you for your recent comments. I have seen wardomatic blog and love the ava thursday that he posts. as an artist I have always been fascinated with kids drawings, and this interest has increased since becoming a mother.

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