So according to a facebook "real age" quiz, my body thinks I am 35 years old. But I recently got an e-mail from a high school friend who thought I'd turned 40 this year. We graduated together, but as I had skipped a year in elementary school I was younger than most of my classmates. 40! I've got another 51 weeks to go (not that I'm counting)! As she and I e-mailed back and forth we compared notes on age and milestones, contrasted ourselves with our mothers, and generally hashed out our thoughts on life's chronology and the timelines we create.
In such comparisons I often begin with the similarities between my mother and me: we are both eldest children, both daughters (duh), and we both married at age 25. But while I (with my husband) bought a house at 26, my mother still does not own a home. And I am still in the same house more than 12 years later. When my mother was in her 30s and my siblings and I were young, we moved constantly. In fact, I can't come up with an exact count of places we lived.
More minor differences: I was almost two years older than my mother was when we had our first children (both daughters, so a similarity within a difference): she was almost 27 when I was born, and I was three months shy of 29 when Lydia was born. She'd also been married only a few months when she got pregnant; Andrew and I waited until after our second anniversary. She went on to have my brother at age 29 and my sister at 32; I was 33 when Evan was born. And two children will be it for us!
Moving into comparisons between our husbands... my dad was 3.5 years older than my mother (29 when they married, 30 when I was born); Andrew is nearly 7 years older than I am (32 at our wedding; 35 when Lydia was born). Andrew had just turned 40 when Evan came along, while my dad was 2 weeks shy of 36 when my sister (the baby) arrived. My dad died at age 51, and Andrew is a youthful 45 now. It freaks me out to think my dad was only 6 years older when he died. Especially in that context, I can't reconcile Andrew with the age 45, and I always want to say he seems young for his years, whatever that means.
My parents separated shortly after their 15th anniversary. My mom was 41, my dad 45 (funny, I hadn't thought of this before but that is Andrew's current age). I will celebrate my 14th wedding anniversary this year. Though marriage is hard work, I am happy in my relationship and can't imagine not being with this person for the long haul. I hope I am not tempting fate by saying that...
Regardless of the similar or different ages at which we reached various points along our paths, for much of my life I have felt like more of a "grown-up" than my mom. I am sure this qualifies me for a ton of therapy, but mostly it just makes me really want to let my kids be kids! And it is even better when I can let them pull me back into feeling younger and more carefree, too.
Today, however, I am home with Evan who pulled the classic Saturday-night-at-midnight barf attack. He last threw up around 9 am Sunday, but was courting a fever all day, and kids have to be fever-free for 24 hours before going back to school. So we've watched a little old-school Christopher Reeve Superman and I will soon have to come up with some other mildly entertaining (but not TOO much fun) home-sick activities.
I think the esoteric generational comparisons are over for now...
In such comparisons I often begin with the similarities between my mother and me: we are both eldest children, both daughters (duh), and we both married at age 25. But while I (with my husband) bought a house at 26, my mother still does not own a home. And I am still in the same house more than 12 years later. When my mother was in her 30s and my siblings and I were young, we moved constantly. In fact, I can't come up with an exact count of places we lived.
More minor differences: I was almost two years older than my mother was when we had our first children (both daughters, so a similarity within a difference): she was almost 27 when I was born, and I was three months shy of 29 when Lydia was born. She'd also been married only a few months when she got pregnant; Andrew and I waited until after our second anniversary. She went on to have my brother at age 29 and my sister at 32; I was 33 when Evan was born. And two children will be it for us!
Moving into comparisons between our husbands... my dad was 3.5 years older than my mother (29 when they married, 30 when I was born); Andrew is nearly 7 years older than I am (32 at our wedding; 35 when Lydia was born). Andrew had just turned 40 when Evan came along, while my dad was 2 weeks shy of 36 when my sister (the baby) arrived. My dad died at age 51, and Andrew is a youthful 45 now. It freaks me out to think my dad was only 6 years older when he died. Especially in that context, I can't reconcile Andrew with the age 45, and I always want to say he seems young for his years, whatever that means.
My parents separated shortly after their 15th anniversary. My mom was 41, my dad 45 (funny, I hadn't thought of this before but that is Andrew's current age). I will celebrate my 14th wedding anniversary this year. Though marriage is hard work, I am happy in my relationship and can't imagine not being with this person for the long haul. I hope I am not tempting fate by saying that...
Regardless of the similar or different ages at which we reached various points along our paths, for much of my life I have felt like more of a "grown-up" than my mom. I am sure this qualifies me for a ton of therapy, but mostly it just makes me really want to let my kids be kids! And it is even better when I can let them pull me back into feeling younger and more carefree, too.
Today, however, I am home with Evan who pulled the classic Saturday-night-at-midnight barf attack. He last threw up around 9 am Sunday, but was courting a fever all day, and kids have to be fever-free for 24 hours before going back to school. So we've watched a little old-school Christopher Reeve Superman and I will soon have to come up with some other mildly entertaining (but not TOO much fun) home-sick activities.
I think the esoteric generational comparisons are over for now...
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