Aging. It’s a funny thing, isn’t it. We humans try desperately to cling to the remaining vestiges of our youth in an attempt to ignore the inevitable. As I’m practically a babe in the woods still, I don’t have much experience with aging. And yet, I find it knocking on my consciousness in unexpected ways. At Youth Retreat, when I watch all the sixteen-year-olds cavort about and I just want to go to bed, suddenly I feel old. When I find out that someone with two children and a home business is only my age, I can practically feel the wrinkles growing as I think about how little I’ve accomplished yet. Quarter life crises are a real thing, y’all.<\/p>\n
Recently Lyn and I were talking about how we feel like we don’t quite fit in with the youth group anymore, how we just feel old compared to the plethora of little squirts growing up and joining our group. But then we came up with an analogy which quite cheered me.<\/p>\n
Lyn said, “We are like fine wine, compared to teenagers.”<\/p>\n
“Yes,” said I, “We are fine wine and aged cheese. And teenagers are like Plexus Slim.<\/p>\n
Pink.<\/p>\n
Sweet.<\/p>\n
And just a little bit annoying.”<\/p>\n
Suddenly I’m quite happy to be mid-twenties and not have to deal with the drama and emotional upheaval of being a tender whippersnapper any longer. Life has mellowed me and made a lot of massive worries and problems shrink into better perspective. You learn, after some of the teen angst has passed, that the sun does still rise every morning, and that the years do a lot to heal relationships and bring freedom and solve impossible problems.<\/p>\n
So. Here’s to embracing the aging process, because it has a lot more pros than cons. Cheers!<\/p>\n