Twenty-Four

Damn that's a big number

24 – the number of hours in a day

24 – the number of episodes per season of some TV shows

24 – the number of times I have watched some TV shows

24 – the amount of eggs 12 chickens can produce in 2 days

24 – the opposite of the meaning of life

24 – a TV show about time, I assume

24 – an ABC news channel that is good

24  – my, that’s a lot of children you have madam

24 – the age Boyfriend was on the first birthday of his we celebrated together. We went to movieworld.

24 – the age lots of my friends have been already

24 – the age my mum was when I was 2

24 – the age at which you have to stop claiming early-twenties

24 – the age I will be tomorrow.

For some reason, 24 is the first birthday I have dreaded. I don't know why, but it makes me feel old. It doesn’t make any sense of course. I don’t think other people who are 24 are old. And I certainly don’t think older people are ANCIENT. Boyfriend, for example, is 28. That seems totally fine to me. (30, on the other hand… When he’s 30 I’m going to have to drop him like a warm legume. Honestly, who turns THIRTY?!)

It’s not one of those, “I should have done more/something else by now things, but it somehow seems like an age I just can’t be. Twenty-four! That’s the age of a grown up person. Isn’t it? Am I a grown up person? If so, I have been seriously misguided about grown up people; who they are, what they do and how they function.

So what to do with this dread and fear of a birthday? Should I pretend to be 23 for a few more years? Should I moisturise my face with a cream that fights SEVEN signs of aging? What even are the seven signs of ageing? Is one of them fear? Is another incontinence? Damn that’s some good cream. No. I think what I need to do is find some good things about being 24.

So...

It’s an even number, appealing to my love of even numbers

It’s a multiple of 8, appealing to my love of the number 8

It makes me twice the age of one of my siblings, a joy I won’t experience again until I’m 30

I’m still in the 18-24 bracket on surveys

I can say “20-something” and not feel like a douche (maybe)

I’m old enough to have learnt things and had experiences

I’m young enough to still be able to do ANYTHING I want

It's an even number

Blogging as therapy, there you go.