Another birthday has come and gone. This one’s a bit of a big one for my overly nostalgic self — 38, 20 years since I became an “adult” in the United States. 20 years since the tail end of high school and a great many moments of absolute chaos. Certainly feels like a lifetime ago and I guess in a sense it has been.
The past 20 years have been one hell of a wild journey. One I, oddly, didn’t realize I was on until halfway through, instead just going with the flow. Or, at least, something to that effect. I don’t know, for as much symbolism as I place on this day I’ve strangely got very little to say about it, or how I feel. Perhaps it’s the fact so much has been going on that I’m still just kind of lost in the ether, or maybe it’s because it can all be really summed up by the fact that, as they say, you are as old as you feel, and while age is certainly setting in — I ache often, my already bad vision is going to crap, and I wish the kids next door would get off my lawn (okay not the last one) — I still equally know I’m basically an overgrown kid. Sure, one with a very dark sense of humor, a massive case of cynicism and disdain for modernity, and a myriad of issues that just won’t go away, I’m also equally still that same rocket loving wildly imaginative game playing kid I was 30 years ago — that one who 20 years ago faced some pretty crazy challenges, who 10 years ago was feeling almost on top of the world, and who today is at the very least feeling optimistic for this year.
I guess, that’s the take away. I’m still me. I do have to say, I’m happy to be able to continue to get older — the alternative isn’t the most fun idea, to say the least.
Here’s to another year of me being around to do the crazy shit I do each and every day.