Sunday, March 16, 2008

41

Today is my birthday. I'm 41 today. Somehow, it doesn't seem possible. That seems like a fair amount of time to have been alive on this planet. Sadly, the older one gets, the faster time seems to fly. Can it really be 20 years since I turned 21?! Can it really be 11 years since I turned 30? No. It can't be. Yet the calendar doesn't lie.

I don't mind birthdays, but I don't like getting older. True, people are living longer, but at 41, I am forced to admit that I've left my youth behind me forever and have to accept the fact that I'm middle-aged. Ick. I don't like that idea.

It's weird knowing that the "kids" in their 20's weren't even born when Star Wars came out in 1977 - almost 31 years ago. It's funny knowing that there's a generation that never didn't know that Darth Vader was Luke's father until the sequel, "The Empire Strikes Back" came out in 1980. It's weird knowing there's a generation that doesn't know a life before MTV and how big Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was in 1983.

It's weird looking back at tv footage of the 70's and 80's and saying, "Hey! I remember that!" I guess our parents felt the same when we were growing up. For example, they remember the Kennedy assasination in 1963; they remember the Queen's coronation in 1953. Those were events that happened before I was born. They must have shaken their heads and smile the same way I do today. I think that's why I like watching "That 70's Show" a retro look back at life in the '70's. Though, I would be younger than the teenage characters in that show (it would be perfect if one of them had a younger sibling) I do remember the fashions and the attitudes and the gadgets around the house of that time.

So, there you have it. The musings of a middle-aged (ouch, that hurts) woman on her birthday. I'm off to enjoy the rest of the day.