Today I am 24, which is neither here nor there. Honestly, I feel more nonchalant about today than I've ever felt about any birthday in my life. I am no longer heartbroken (at least not as heartbroken as I used to be) that my grown up birthdays aren't quite as incredible as the birthdays I had as child. (It seems like every year of my childhood was two long countdowns: one to my birthday, the other to Christmas.) I know today there will be no balloons, no toys. And toys wouldn't be any use to me, anyway, which, though obvious, is still kind of sad in a way. Such is the passing of time.
24 seems like an awfully intimidating number--I am slowly but surely reaching the other side of my twenties, the side that is closer to thirty than to twenty--but of course I realize how silly I must sound. Logically, I know 24 is not old. Yet 24 is still the oldest I have ever been in my entire life.
Though I am young, I feel as if I should be more established, more settled. I feel as if should wake up at the same time every morning and follow a regular exercise routine, as if I shouldn't own more than one tutu in my size. I should have a dining room table with six chairs, a real job in a cubicle, a subscription to Good Housekeeping, and a purse filled anything you would ever need in an emergency (hand sanitizer, band aids, inflatable life vests).
In some ways I feel I have grown up so quickly, but in other ways I feel I have not grown up at all.
I still have messy hair, and I still wear big, nerdy glasses and mismatched socks. I still make really stupid jokes and sing and hum all day long. I still sit on the edge of my seat during Toy Story 2, and I still want to be a ballerina when I grow up.
I'm also still waiting for Peter Pan to come to my window.
It's been said that the more things seem to change, the more they remain the same. "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
Another birthday. Another day. Time keeps moving right along. Today, I am 24, but that is the only difference.
24 is not old! Age is just a number after all. You can be as youthful as you want and be much older than 24. Happy Birthday! :) Hope it's a good one.
ReplyDeleteTrue story! I'll be waiting for Peter Pan and checking for Narnia in the back of my closet until I'm a little old lady.
DeleteAnd thank you for the birthday wishes. :)
Happy Birthday Hannah! I'm turning 24 in six weeks or so, so I'm not far behind you :) Hope you're having a great day!
ReplyDeleteHappy early birthday! We are so close in age! Thanks for the birthday wishes. :)
Deletehey! who says you have to grow up completely? : ) and who says you still can't have awesome themed birthdays? i threw my best friend a laker themed birthday on his 25. it was awesome.
ReplyDeleteromanticallychallenged.net
I saw a little girl birthday party on Pinterest the other day, and the cake was wearing a tutu. I secretly wanted that cake for my own birthday. You've inspired me. Next year, my cake is wearing a tutu.
DeleteI LOVE your cake, and that fat candle. I share a lot of your same thoughts on growing up. I am 25, and I feel like I am getting so old...but we are not old. And quite frankly, we will never be old as long as we keep singing randomly and dreaming of becoming ballerinas. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, the fat candle, haha. I wanted a cute photo but didn't have any birthday candles around the house so I handed a purple candle stick to Damian and said, "Will you please snap this in half?"
DeleteAnd as he did, he was like, "You are the brains of this operation. I am just the muscle."
And I was like, "Yup." :)
But that's not really true, because he baked that cake, and he had never baked a cake before in his life! It was delicious, too.
Haha! Well, if that is a first-time cake, I am impressed.
DeleteHappy Birthday! I turned 24 this year too, and I feel so much like you!
ReplyDeleteI feel like I should be more established, shouldn't sleep with my teddy bear (I can't beleive I'm admitting that!)or be super sensitive and cry over silly things, should have a steady job and be saving for retirement lol. My mother in law to-be is always going on about how after I'm married next year we can have a baby! How scary is that? There is no way I can have a baby when I still feel like a child!
I've finally learnt that this is just my personality and that no matter how old I get it probably isn't going to change...I'll be that weird lady who dresses like a teenager when she's 40; I have 16 years to come to terms with that!
I hear ya on the being sensitive! I am a regular leaky facet. And sometimes over the most trivial things.
DeleteI think it's okay to have a little bit of childlike nature, like we do, because being a little bit silly and a little bit sensitive probably makes our lives richer, anyway. Proper grown ups are boring. :)
Oh, and thank you for the birthday wishes. :)
DeleteHappy birthday, ma'am!
ReplyDeleteAnd I must say...being "established" and all that jazz with a regular wake up time and a cubicle job and a regular exercise routine is not all that it's cracked up to be. I think it's funny that we have this idea that THAT kind of life is what makes us "grown ups," when that kind of life isn't for everyone.
That's a really good point--the life I feel like I should have isn't necessarily the right life for me, anyway.
DeleteAnd thanks for the birthday wishes, even though being called ma'am makes me feel even older, haha. ;)
I have felt the same way about birthdays for the past few years as well. After 21, it was just kinda like...meh. Another year that is only getting me closer to 30, and then 40, and then death. Haha. I kid. Kind of. I'm turning 26 in about a month, and the first time I said to someone, "I'm turning 26 soon", I freaked out a little bit, because that number sounds OLD. But then, so did 24 and 25. I think it's because I still feel like I'm 18, no matter what age I am turning. Aging is weird.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday! =]
My dad sometimes likes to say, "One day I looked in the mirror and I thought, who is that old man? Oh, that's me?"
DeleteHe says he still feels about 20.
Getting older IS weird, because I feel like every birthday should be such a profound event, but I also feel so much the same as each year passes, and I wonder if the reality of being an adult will EVER sink in? Maybe it won't. Oh, well. Anyway. :)
Thanks for the birthday wishes. :)
Girl, please. Nobody under age 50 has a subscription to Good Housekeeping. You're doing fine.
ReplyDeleteHehe! I actually used to read it when I was in high school. My mom subscribed to it, and we lived in an itty bitty third world country, so I was desperate for reading material. Seasonal cupcakes and walk off the weight diet plans. Oh, yeah. :)
DeleteI hear ya on the old vs. young thing. I watch Disney Channel often and am fascinated by ballerinas and gymnasts and entertainment/TV news but at the same time, I want a permanent job, to live on my own, social and love lives - basically, to have what my high school classmates all have. It's as if they've moved on without me.
ReplyDeleteHappy belated birthday. And look on the bright side: one thing never changes about your birthday - there's usually always yummy cake :)
Oh, yes. Cake is ALWAYS good. :)
DeleteIf there are flap over a small-scale device, video persons faraway from at
ReplyDeletewhich they are going to satisfy the bodily around the container.
Look at the fluids where you have passed through its jello
baggage whilst, for all pint because of liquids, put 9 single lb towards sugar.
Away oven, take 5-6 minimum because of just before on to steady,
and piece right into medallions with the exceptional supper.
Way too, although hiking cookers is a field every personalized, small stove tops, like the an incredible esbit your oven, are ideal for outdoor Precisely what may possibly work
with an esbit furnace towards, you might call for? Even when within cabinet plugmold appears to be like a reliable method for hook up
your kitchen area equipment, you will also discover totally sure downsides.
Certain offer commented using a entire power cord which is usually less expensive 3 little feet longer phone essential a person stuff it
someplace at the toughness wall plug.
Also visit my website; Ouida Gambone
The particular associated roasted premium coffee and occasional
ReplyDeleteare a couple of totally different websites and wish unlike achievements, too you
might want to if you have a awesome caffeinated drinks will not lose sight of, may possibly be the worth
of giving away prime quality , thought out and as well as
poured suitably. You now learn the fundamentals of employing the
Dutch oven you would like to get ready also known as healing their stove forward with it.
There may be certainly model Internal Bluetooth Individual belonging to the Dingoo A330.
Stop by my website Dannie Mallie