24
When I was a kid, I always imagined 24 to be the perfect age. We played house a lot as kids; I was always 24, and had an apartment. Never a house. 24 was the year that would be the most fun, the year when I would really really live.
Okay. So it’s here now.
Last night at a pre-birthday dinner involving margaritas, one of my co-workers asked how old I would be and when I told her, after everyone expressed shock and disbelief at my youth, the co-worker said, “You know, that’s a good age. 24 was a really good year.” Which makes me feel a little better, because maybe other people feel the same way about 24 as I have for years.
So I’m 24. I don’t have an apartment or a house, but in a few months I will. I don’t have it all together but I’m getting closer.
I know that our childhood ideas about adulthood always seem to be overblown and don’t turn out quite the way we imagine, but I really do hope this is a good year.
Happy Early Birthday!! I'll be 24 in one month and to be honest, I've been dreading. It just sounds so much older than 23 and it's mid twenties which really freaks me out but I guess you are right, when I was little my Barbies were always 24 or 25, not 21 or 22. Anyways your entry gave me a little hope that my outlook will be better by my birthday, in all honesty 23 wasn't that great for me so I should be happy to get rid of it. Even years are always better at least we hope. Anyways great entry, thanks for the positivity!!
Hey man, it's okay. Now do you live in an apartment or at home. When I just turned 24 I lived at home. But I moved out a little later, of course I was in grad school. I kinda wish I had waited a little longer and saved more.
Happy Birthday girl!!! I hear ya loud and clear. When I turned 24 last week, all I could say was “whoa…I don't feel…this isn't…wha?” Here's to hoping that this year will be everything we dreamed it could be and more… ;)
my 20s will make a good book some day. still another 10 months to go.
At 24 — I left my first wife, got my master's degree, protested the First Gulf War, and left the Roman Catholic Church. And T.A.ed my first history class… 'twas a turbulent and happy year, but I would not go back to my 20s for all the tea in China
24 is so great for those looking back, in part, because 25 can be such hell.
In any case, the time leading all the way up to 30 is the new adolesence.
Happy Birthday to you – margaritas can make every gift a little more of heaven.
24 mops the floor with 19. Happy birthday, and best of luck having 24 be even better than you imagined it at 12. Or 19. 19 sucks.
Happy Birthday. I have no words of wisdom.
Happy Birthday. I bought you wrapping paper!
Happy Birthday! 24 is a good year.
Happy Birthday! 24 is good, girlie! It was on my 25th birthday that I wanted to lock myself in a closet and cry. For some reason, I had a hard time with that one. 28 has been fine so far, but 29 will hit me this summer, and that's a bit scary.
Mike: Holy punch vinegar, I didn't know you were 29 this past bday. How is it so far?
HHHHAAAAPPPYYYY BIRTHDAY!!!!
if i wasn't at the library i'd sing it too.
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! C dniom rozhdienia! Feliz cumpleanos!
it's tough, because now i have to do all the things i wanted to do before i turn 30. and i start to think that if i had been a professional athlete, my value would be decreasing with every passing day.
Happy birthday! Seems to me 24 was a pretty good year for me, too.
Ah, that moment that marks the passage of time (which is itself an abstract created by humankind).
My goal age was 21, because I would be an adult with all the privileges bestowed by society. Then on my 22nd birthday, I said, “What's this?? I just want to stay 21. I don't want to grow older!”
But of course, time goes on. I now have a family that is the joy of my life, and I wouldn't change it for a moment to be 21 again. The secret is a combination of attitude, learning what the right choices are (proactively), and then doing it right (for the most part; failure is not life-ending except for the Darwin Award types) with a positive attitude.
How can one have a positive attitude? When one discovers that they live better than 95% of the rest of the world's population, who dream of paradise with the fruits we enjoy. Is it really paradise? Not to be preachy, but Jesus did say that “the Kingdom of God is within (or among) you.”
In short, don't look at 24 as the pinnacle of your life, because there are so many changes ahead, and you are the determinating source of your contentedness.