Age Is a Funny Thing

Old enough for work?

Some people keep talking about their age, or about the age of others. For some reason, age doesn’t seem to be in my thoughts. Oh, I’ll mention it, when people mistake me for a schoolkid (what school are you going to, not going to school, why not, I’m a bit too old for that, oh, how old are you, oh, would you look at that, blah blah blah), but I don’t actually think about it, my responses are pretty much automatic. Sometimes they are polite, and sometimes I growl at people, when they think I’m a kid and therefore they can pet me like they would pet a dog.

I’m aware how old I am, it’s just something that I don’t think about, except for this one time.

It was several years ago, and I was getting my hair cut. I was chatting with the hairdresser, an 18-year-old girl, and at some point, I thought to myself: Darn, someone ten years younger than me is old enough to have a full-time job!

It puzzled me. It’s not that I was unaware I was 28 at the time — I knew what year I was born, and I also knew what year it was, so it was obvious how old I was — it’s just that I was so used to think of myself as a kid that the thought of someone 10 years younger being old enough for a job was surprising.

After the initial surprise, of course, I went on with doing what I was usually doing — writing, reading, playing with our lazy cat, spending time with SO. My mother tries to remind me of my age and keeps telling me I should be doing this or that, but hey, she’s been doing it all my life, so it’s not like I’m going to feel any different because of that.

How about you? How do you feel about your age (or anyone else’s), and do you even think about it?