When I turned 32, I realized quite suddenly that I was the age I remember my mom being. It was a weird feeling because, when I was 12, my mom seemed so old and grown up and when I was 32, I felt so young and unprepared.
Today I turn 38 and I still feel young and a little clueless. Sometimes I look around and realize I’m the adult which sets off a small burst of panic because there are two children looking up to me as if I actually know something. Even more strange is that I’m now the age my mom was when I graduated from high school.
I look at my kids—ages four and seven—and imagine being the parent to a high school student, of getting them ready for college and teaching them to drive. I remember the piles of paperwork to register for classes and laughing hysterically in the front seat of my Ford while trying to teach my girlfriend to drive stick shift and think, wasn’t that just last week?
I look at my facebook feed and see friends I graduated with send their oldest children off to college. How is that possible? We’re too young!
I wonder if my mom felt the same way when she was 38. I may have to ask her about that.
