it's not so far away

I remember when I was in my early twenties, my thirties seemed incredibly far away. I knew that at age twenty-one I was nine years away from thirty, but nine years still seemed like a tremendously long time. I had forgotten that feeling, but I recognized it immediately when I saw it in somebody else.

G., whose complex social life is always the subject of conversation, was describing a potential suitor the other day.

"But," she said dismissively, "he's like totally old, something like thirty."

"Yeah," affirmed A., "that's too old."

At this point I felt compelled to defend those of us on the other side of thirty. "Thirty isn't that old, honest!"

G. laughed. "Oh," she said reassuringly, "he looks totally older than you."

A. chimed in. "Yeah, it's not like you look thirty!"

Thank goodness I've apparently been spared the horror of looking age thirty.