I'm turning 25 next month and generally I don't feel old when I'm interacting with...the people I generally interact with. Until last week.
I'm involved in a production of "Arsenic and Old Lace" at the Valley Center Playhouse in Lindon. I play the part of Elaine, who is engaged to Mortimer, the main character. At one of our rehearsals last week, the director wanted me and Mortimer to get to know each other better, so we just sat and talked for about a half hour.
The guy who plays Mortimer was telling me about where he lives, which is a small town just inside the Provo canyon. He told me that most of the people who live there have lived there since they were little kids. And then he said, "But now they're old. Like, they have kids now and they're like 30 or 40."
I reeled (not literally, just in my head). When he said "old," in my mind I figured they were 70 or 80. 30 or 40 is old? Granted, this guy recently graduated high school and so is likely 18 or 19. I remember being 18 and thinking that 30 or 40 was old. But 18 wasn't that long ago for me. At least, it doesn't feel that way. But now, 30 isn't so far away either and I don't feel old. Am I old?
It's like that episode of Friends where Rachel turns 30 and they talk about when they were kids and mean old Mrs. Traeger lived down the road, but looking back now, they realized that she was 30.
I'm sure as time goes on and I get older I'll feel this way more often, but for now, I'll pretend like it didn't happen and that I'm not actually that old. That works, right?
