0 Growing up and "Getting Old"

By: Marvin DeBose

Recently my 10-year old sister was talking about her upcoming birthday in September. Like most kids, the fact that her birthday is less than two months away makes it a reason to talk about it incessantly. "I want a party, at [whatever place that 10-year olds like to go to for their birthdays (I wasn't really paying attention)]."

My younger brother and I, naturally felt the need to tease her as if we weren't going to celebrate her birthday this year.

"You're not having a party", my brother said. "Mom and Dad are saving all the money for my 16th birthday party this year."

Then I jokingly chimed in, "No, neither of you are having a party because we're saving up for my 24th birthday party." And as those words "24th birthday" came out, it was like an alarm went off in my head. I stopped in my tracks and thought to myself, "Damn, when did I become an adult?"

For the rest of that day, I thought a lot about how fast the last ten years seemed to go. I thought about how fast high school went, how quickly college went by, and how fast my grad school years came and went. Then, I began to think about how fast the next ten years would go.

Yet, recognizing how fast the years go by can have sort of a sobering effect on you, it helps you puts things into perspective. It made me realize that now is the time to do more, experience more and accomplish more.

I'm not saying that going into your mid-20s is "getting old", nor it is for your 30s, 40s, or 50s for that matter. In fact, it's my belief that "old" has nothing to do with age. Not to sound too deep or esoteric, but I believe that the concepts of oldness and youthfulness are related more to our spirit, and the body is merely a vehicle of the spirit.

Yet, I think that age should be a reminder of the value of time, and the value of life as well.

So thinking about how fast the years go by I learned a simple lesson: Go out be what you want to be, do what you want to do, go where you want to go, because, either way, the years are still gonna go by.