I imagine most of us have read this - Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional'.
Time is what you cannot stop. There was this phase when I was little (till about 10 years) when I could not wait to grow up. Then there was also a phase (11-13) when I really did not want to grow up. I dreamed about Peter Pan and all the fairy stories and hoped a land like that really did exist and I would hope to find a secret doorway to the world of fairies. I remember watching the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit where all the Loony Toons enter into the real world. Bugs Bunny was the love of my life! And I hoped even more that such a thing was possible :)
The teenage was magical and I grew tall during this time (considering how short I was when I was younger) :D. But I realised I was growing old when I turned 23. That was like a mid point towards the mid twenties. That was a tough number to accept and I did feel a pinch. When you are 19 and turning 20 you don't realise that teenage is over because you're excited about the magical number 21 coming up next. The legal age to do a lot of things, I was already working at 20 and turning 21 was cool. The 22nd B'day was still fine, but 23..... it scared me a bit, I realised I would be in the mid twenties bracket soon. Kids calling out to me aunty now sounded a little annoying.
24 was fun because it seemed like a good year and after accepting 23 did not hurt at all. Turning 25 for women I think is a BIG deal. It's like turning 30 for men. Sort of a deadline for achieving things in life. I think I did just fine. But to explain how I feel thinking about the years to come (26-30) is like coming down the roller coaster from the highest point. I’m sure it won’t be so bad at all but that the view from this side of 25 :)
Days left before I turn a quarter of a century old and I might say this to feel better but there is truth in it – Age is but a number and it’s what you are at heart that matters (I’m stuck at 22 although I do go back to 5 and 10 occasionally)
Casey Stengel said ‘The trick is growing up without growing old’
Didn't you find your bugs bunny yet?? :-P :))
ReplyDeleteFeels like you wanted to write a lot more (or could have written some more).. but cut it short :)
ReplyDeletenice post...nikki!
ReplyDeleteu don't have to grow old to grow up..
everybody goes through stages of growing old..child, teenager, adult....its natural!
but are we ready to grow up? are we ready to put in some effort to live better?.
"GROWN UP" is a precious tag..& we have to "earn it!" :)
@ Anony - Still in love with bugs! :) (btw why do u leave comment as anonymous?)
ReplyDelete@ Madman - You are right! I had many things to write but then they were all going off track.. so to keep the article short and not to make it confusing.. had to do it. :)
@ Sheetal - completely agree we need to earn the grown up tag. But we can choose to grow up and still hold to the child within us :) don't you agree?
I like 'Growing'. Just don't think it needs to be used with other words like 'UP' or 'OLD'. They spoil the beauty of the word.
ReplyDelete