Anyone watch Glee last night? The encounter with Quinn (high school student) and Shelby (at teacher played by Idina Menzel, who I adore) hit me like a woman still dealing with being in her thirties. Here is a taste of their conversation from last night's episode.
SHELBY: It goes away you know? Not the pretty. You will always be pretty, but the young. It happens really slow and you don't even notice it then one day everything just....feels different.
QUINN: I can't wait to feel different.
SHELBY: Don't wish away your life. You're just where you are suppose to be.
The words rang so true to me. I remember the heartache so vividly of being twenty-three and feeling my youth being sucked out of my veins. I don't think it all went away then though. I think at the time I thought it had, but only now looking back and knowing how I feel now do I realize I still had it. When you are in the middle of your youth, you have this yearning to be an adult and for time to pass by as quickly as possible. It happens at a different time for each of us. To me, my years of growing up were the hardest thus far. Then something happens one day and in a snap you want time to slow down. The years go by in the blink of an eye and you think you are still young but the mirror tells a different story. Life has gotten easier with time in my eyes, but for some reason there is a desire to have the youth back. Maybe it is because we always want what we can't have. I spend many of my hours dreaming about what adventure life might bring next when really I need to try harder to enjoy right where I am now in life. Who knows, when I am forty I might be looking back on these days as some of the best- so why not enjoy every minute of it.
I need to appreciate where I am right now but it is so DANG hard.
ReplyDeleteI need to slow down and enjoy the moments.
I agree - last night's episode was awesome, especially the way that situation was handled. Though I don't buy the whole "high school is the best time of your life" thing they were trying to push at the end, I do like the "don't rush through life" message.
ReplyDeleteI'm 31. Today I cut my finger, not even very badly, and it's been bleeding for hours. I don't want to be in my thirties anymore. Can I please have my twenties back?
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Yeah, now that I've been an "adult" for a couple years, definitely overrated.
ReplyDeleteAs crazy as we make high school to be, being a student (also in college) was probably when I was most carefree.
I know what you mean. I think it really, really hit me at 37.
ReplyDeleteMy daughters getting older is making it worse.
I think it's because I look at them (just entering their teen years) and keep thinking "if only I knew then..." Then, I try to figure out how to impart my wisdom on them (to save them from mistakes and missed opportunities). Only, I realize it won't do any good--they need to learn life's lessons for themselves.
That (sometimes) brings me back to staying where I am. But not always.
My high school reunion is coming up soon, and all I can think is wow, where did the time go? It feels like just yesterday I was IN high school. Also, as a guy who's aged pretty well, it's weird to see a baby face in the mirror with sprigs of white in my hair. Go away!
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