Twenty-four: an in-between age

Goodbye twenty-three, hello twenty-four.  I am now twenty-four and undeniably older.  So what does this number mean?

I feel old or at least I feel like my being 24 makes me old, but I actually feel like teenager.  I’m at this weird place where I am supposed to be getting my life together, working at a job that sets me up for my career path, dating to find my “soulmate,” and yet in my mind I am still that young, active and fairly naive high-school kid, curious about the world and excited to see more.

I enjoy being around toddling two-year-olds, slowly moving forward one block in twenty minutes time because we are so caught up in the way the green grass moves with the wind and how the tiny ants march along in a line.  We are so engaged in the world we see that there is no room for worry or stress.  I enjoy watching movies with eager eight-year-olds who get caught up in fantastic stories of good and evil, where the biggest threat is some witch who never seems to win the battle.  I enjoy talking with emotional high-school students who always seem to be entangled in a drama, which at the time appears to be the most significant issue they will ever face.

I have lived through these stages in my life and now I am on to a new one- adulthood- where the stress of making money and finding purpose and happiness are real and ever- pressing.  It is nice to revert back to simpler times when we were still discovering the novelty and amazingness of this world and imagining magical places where everyone could live happily ever after; however, I suppose I am now an adult and must zip up my black pants, button up my suit jacket and head to work.  As I do so, I grab for my bag and the stresses and anxieties that fill it, taking on my role as an adult and leaving behind my inner child.