Adulting and Aging: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time...

One of my friends gifted me with this little favor bag tucked full of goodies. She had them made for her sister’s bachelorette weekend as a funny care pack of sorts for the gals to use during their fun frolic around Los Angeles. I was touched she brought one back for me (she knows I have a penchant for beauty products), and as I read those sassy red words, I had one of those “a ha” moments that became the basis for this first blog post you are reading.

For me, the proverb on this pouch is exactly how I used to feel about aging: It seemed a good idea at the time.

I can recall so many moments in my life when I longed to be just a little older because then I could go on my first sleepover, just a little older and then I could drive, just a little older and then I would be a college student…(I was pretty dramatic, so let your reading voice draw out the italicized words with a good solid whine.) I think I spent more time longing for milestones in my life than I did the actual milestone itself. Let me be real with you. Little me spent so much time dreaming of my first kiss, and the grand affair took just a few awkward seconds (albeit cute awkwardness.) That first kiss finally came, but never satiated, it seemed a good idea at the time for me to be a little less content with whatever my current situation was and to instead look eagerly forward to a future time.

But now fast forward to my 30s, and I was disturbingly doing the same thing – only I was reversing the process– looking longingly back in time to when I was younger and wondering why time had moved so slowly, yet in hindsight, so quickly. Growing older seemed a good idea at the time, but was it actually just a disappointing fate that I foolishly saw through rose colored glasses?

No, I don’t think so.

Part of the excitement of looking forward to something is, well, the excitement. But the excitement of getting older, while, ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time” is still very much a good idea and the entire purpose of my blog. I’m diligently discovering that despite the trials life can bring (along with aches, pains, and other unpleasant situations) aging is something I can eagerly look forward to, and indeed a good idea at the time, whether I am 35, 57, 78 or 105!