As I sit here writing this, it is only 17 days until my 21st birthday. I just got an e-mail from a high school friend of mine. He turned 21 on the 15th of this month. He wrote something that caught my eye. He said that while he enjoyed his birthday week, he was still depressed. I immediately knew what he meant. I call it the getting-too-damn-old blues.
I know that there are people who will read this who are much older than 21 and say, What? but I'm sure they can still relate. It is my belief that everyone who makes it to this age and beyond has experienced the same thing, or something like it. For some people it hits them when they are about a month away from their birthday; for others it is on that day. For me it happened as I was searching for internships the other day. Twenty-one, wow! A lot of people can't wait to go out and drink, even though here in Athens it's not that big of a deal because we drink anyways, only at 21 we can do it legally. I love gambling, so to me 21 means Vegas, baby. However, to all of us this is an age when realization kicks in. We are not kids anymore.
Sure, we still have some years of college to go and that means making the most of it, but in a couple of years many of us will be laying out the blueprint for the rest of our lives. I know that we all remember the I don't want to grow up
I'm a Toys 'R' Us kid commercials. Well I'm conflicted. I want to hold onto a time when Saturday mornings meant cereal and X-Men. I want to be able to still have the simple problems of youth. You know, who will I date, who's dating whom, did you get that new CD? But then the other side of me can't wait to be what Cedric the Entertainer calls a grown-ass man!
Don't get me wrong, I love being an adult. It's part of life and it's something that we all can't wait for when we are younger. All I'm asking for is time to slow the hell down. It's like when women are young and they can't wait to get older, and many of them lie about their age to come across as older than they are. Then it hits -- adulthood -- and they start lying about being younger.
I think in all of us we want that middle age. That 16-to-19 time when we are still young and too legit to quit but also old enough to think we know it all. There are some who try to hold onto their youth. These are the people who still think it's cute to vandalize a street sign or an elevator.
Ahhh the getting-too-damn-old blues. I'm sure it will fade.
It's something we have to accept with life. It reminds me of a quote from a video game from back in the day. It said, For what we choose to believe we will live or die for. As we strive to better the world we were thrown into
remember
we are only human. And I realize that I am only human. God (or whatever you believe in) willing I will only get older. So come on getting-too-damn-old blues - hit me hard now, and spare me the time later.
Send him an e-mail at josephus.odom@ohiou.edu
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Erick Odom
