In my mid-twenties and having abused my “that’s what she
said” privileges, now more than ever I’m due to enter the rat race by buying a
house and ‘settling down.’
This order comes from the high authority of woggy parents
and the feeling of being left behind your conscientious friends.
And to think it was only yesterday I had a fresh face, a straw and some paint. I want to grab that pre-schooler and hurriedly tell him a thousand different things. The rabbit is always in the hat. Ben Affleck will blossom into a credible director. Always laugh. I love you should never be thrown around.
Most people fear growing old with all the arthritis, Alzheimer’s and approaching death. For me, the real downside to growing up comes from the lessons I’ve already learned and knowing the best experiences are behind me.
Most people fear growing old with all the arthritis, Alzheimer’s and approaching death. For me, the real downside to growing up comes from the lessons I’ve already learned and knowing the best experiences are behind me.
When I was 14 I had my first kiss. That single act uncovered
a whole new part of me that wasn’t yet born. One moment I was a kid playing
with marbles in the dirt, the next I fancied myself Picasso during his pink
phase. I loved. I cried. I won and loss.
It was riveting.
I’ve burned people too. The other day I walked past my dad
and he didn’t recognise me.
But alas, I don’t have Stewie’s time machine and I can’t go
back and turn the wrongs into rights. And to be honest, most of the boy I was eroded
over time. Penance won’t bring him back.
So I’ll start reading the T&Cs of mortgages and
diligently begin to lay the foundations of a life that leads to years known as ‘twilight.’
They sound just as horrible as the
books. And movies. And the hussie Kristen Stewart. Who has a range of one.
But, even though I’m saying farewell to
a kid motivated by impulses (or as my friends refer to them, lapses), I realise
there’s still plenty to look forward to, even if it feels like they’re beyond
my reach.
There’s meeting ‘the one’ and I
hear fatherhood is quite the hoot. I may trade in my skinnies for khakis, but the
toughest challenges remain ahead of me yet.
