“I’ve been following you online forever”
Oh! Wow. Well, thanks.
I had just finished speaking at a high school honours student banquet.
The young couple stood in front of me and the young woman speaking had a look of seriousness in her eyes.
The kind of seriousness that you have when you’re 18 and you’re talking to an older… who am I kidding… old person and you’re trying to almost project your legitimacy as a human out of your eyeballs.
She continued.
“Yeah, I’ve been following like since… 2020.”
2020?!
Since?!
2020? Wasn’t that like just a year or two ago?
We bought a rug in 2020 that we refer to as our ‘new rug’.
In 2020 I was still as old as I am now.
My oldness since 2020 has only incrementally increased.
Thoughts raced through my ancient brain.
Then I realized that this young woman was 14 in 2020.
The difference between 50 and 54 is not massive.
The difference between 14 and 18 is massive.
I thanked her sincerely.
I made no mention of how ludicrous it was to equate four years to ‘forever’… because to her it was forever.
I chatted with her and lovely young man companion (ed: nice word choice, gramps), we took a photo and they left.
Our exchange got me thinking.
It is undeniable that there are many many physiological and psychological changes that happen in us between the ages of 14 and 18.
However, what is also undeniable is that four years… is four years.
That young woman may be experiencing that four years differently than me based on proportion of lifetime, but the sun still rose and set the exact same amount of times for her as it did for me.
Yet, for her, four years ago was part of her storied history.
For me four years ago could’ve as well have been last weekend.
When we get older we seem to let time speed up.
I blink my eyes and I’m pulling the covers up and turning off my bedside light.
I blink my eyes and I’m making a coffee.
I blink my eyes and… oh my god… I’m writing my newsletter again at the last minute.
I understand the proportionality of it, with 10% of my life being a much smaller slice of time than 10% of an 18 year old’s life.
But I also think that’s just laziness.
That 18 year old woman was excited about tomorrow.
Tomorrow wasn’t just another day to her.
Tomorrow was massive.
It may end up being very similar but her eyes revealed how she saw it differently.
Tomorrow held secrets to be revealed.
Tomorrow held opportunities to discover and grasp.
Tomorrow held… excitement.
And yes, you can respond with “she has her whole life ahead of her.”
You’d be right… but so do you.
The life you get to live is your whole life.
I think sometimes when we get older we forget that.
We think that somehow because we’re older that life stops offering us secrets, opportunities, and excitement.
It doesn’t.
They may look different than the ones offered to an 18 year old but they’re still there.
We just need to wipe the jadedness from our eyes and see them.
Come to think of it… 2020 was forever ago.
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Like podcasts?
I do some.
Podcast Is Broken
A weekly show that tries to make Canadian politics funner with Brittlestar, Steve Boots, and Lisa B. PodcastIsBroken.ca
North of Weatherfield
A recap each week of Coronation Street for Canadian fans with no spoilers!
Hosted by Brittlestar and Shannon. Weatherfield.ca
Old is telling someone I’ve been following you since Vine - and then having to explain what Vine was🤣
This reminds me of parents taking endless pictures of their children with the reasoning that “they grow up so fast.” It’s true, one minute they are crawling and the next they’re driving. It’s good to pause and realize it.