Saturday, February 11, 2006
Everybody's Doing It
I have reached a point in my life where everyone I know is making major life decisions.
I have two friends who are married, a friend who is getting married this year, and three people I work with are pregnant. I am twenty-three years old, and I feel that that is too young to make such decisions. I should wait at least until I'm thirty before I do anything of the sort.
So, the question is: who is right, them or me?
I still think of myself as some sort of overgrown teenager. Perhaps its genetic, because my mom and dad are perpetually seventeen. I work three crap jobs, I have artistic ambitions that have not yet been crushed, I shop in the Juniors' department. Anyone who is going to be a mother should definitely not buy a scooter instead of a car, or think that they could possibly ride a bicycle across America. And that's where I'm at in my development. A married woman should probably not think that hookers are the prettiest ladies around. Right?
I don't know. I was out on my own before all of my friends were, having had to give up on the college experience due to financial considerations, so, in a way, I'm pretty mature. I can pay my bills, shop for groceries, basically get things done. But marriage and family? That feels very, very distant to me. And these are people who I've known since I was thirteen. I know what they were like then, how totally insane they have always been, and I just can't grasp the fact that now they are trading in their last names and picking out bassinets at Target.
I watched Eraserhead for the first time tonight. What if I have a baby dinosaur instead of a baby human? For some reason, it seems entirely possible.
Scary thoughts. On an upnote, I sang 'Ode to Billy Joe' tonight, as well as the female vocals in 'I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)'. We brought the house down.
I have two friends who are married, a friend who is getting married this year, and three people I work with are pregnant. I am twenty-three years old, and I feel that that is too young to make such decisions. I should wait at least until I'm thirty before I do anything of the sort.
So, the question is: who is right, them or me?
I still think of myself as some sort of overgrown teenager. Perhaps its genetic, because my mom and dad are perpetually seventeen. I work three crap jobs, I have artistic ambitions that have not yet been crushed, I shop in the Juniors' department. Anyone who is going to be a mother should definitely not buy a scooter instead of a car, or think that they could possibly ride a bicycle across America. And that's where I'm at in my development. A married woman should probably not think that hookers are the prettiest ladies around. Right?
I don't know. I was out on my own before all of my friends were, having had to give up on the college experience due to financial considerations, so, in a way, I'm pretty mature. I can pay my bills, shop for groceries, basically get things done. But marriage and family? That feels very, very distant to me. And these are people who I've known since I was thirteen. I know what they were like then, how totally insane they have always been, and I just can't grasp the fact that now they are trading in their last names and picking out bassinets at Target.
I watched Eraserhead for the first time tonight. What if I have a baby dinosaur instead of a baby human? For some reason, it seems entirely possible.
Scary thoughts. On an upnote, I sang 'Ode to Billy Joe' tonight, as well as the female vocals in 'I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)'. We brought the house down.
// posted by Amethyst Vineyard @ 10:50 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
Am. You are right. People change like burning paper into their thirties. One of the reasons people get married and get babies so soon: they are disturbed to be twenty-three and to still feel like a teenager. Oh, I know, get married and get buried in responsibility, that will make me feel like an adult! Doesn't work that way. Thirty seems like a reasonable age to consider adulthood.
You don't have to trade in your last name or get a bassinet from Target. Really.
But if 40 is the new 30, then 23 must be the new...15? So you have plenty of time.
But if 40 is the new 30, then 23 must be the new...15? So you have plenty of time.
geez, you're a youngin. All my friends are getting married and procreating too, but they're in there late 20s but I still think they're crazy
You should consider that your region is dictating these social mores. Whether we realize it or not, we are all prone to follow the "norm." In the New York metropolitan area, for example, it is rare for people to be married in their twenties, and simply unheard of to have kids until their thirties.
Take your time! Ride that bike. Pursue your dreams. Watch all the bad movies you want.
Post a Comment
Take your time! Ride that bike. Pursue your dreams. Watch all the bad movies you want.
<< Home
