The Bracket

I know when you hit twenty five you should consider yourself a grown up. When friends from school start getting engaged and having babies it's the logical step to recognize that you are no longer in the 18-24 bracket on generic forms. You can no longer claim to be part of the MTV generation and therefore have absolutely no excuse for watching The Hills every Monday like someone desperate to cling on to a particularly obnoxious and responsibility free teenage years. Those days are gone. For good.

I still have trouble adjusting to my new bracket status, however. The fact that I am lumped in with people in their late 30's sends terror through to my very core...not because there is anything wrong with being 39, but because If I'm in that bracket, then I'm starting from the beginning again.

You get smug when you're 23 or 24. Oh those poor little teenagers, complaining about homework and boys. If they only knew what I know...I could teach them a thing or two.

Now, I'm the one who is looked down upon by the hyper responsible adult population who think all people my age are lazy and unfocused. If you haven't been in a long term relationship or have at least one child balanced on your hip while doing the laundry and making gourmet meals, clearly you're not trying hard enough.

The whole idea of marriage scares me more than anything. It's not like I'd never want to get married, but the frequency with which my classmates seem to be dashing down the isle makes me feel like I'm missing something. Is there a rule I don't know about? should everyone be married by 25? and if so how the hell do you have a career as well? Surely a career takes longer than a few years to get off the ground!

I used to go to school with these people. I learned my times tables the same time they did, I went to the same pep rallies (well, OK i hid in the hallways during pep rallies but you get what I mean), I graduated college just like they did, so what unearthly, cosmic force makes these people so desperate to become their parents?

Maybe it's because people crave stability, maybe it's because there's a lull in conversation and the terrified guy proposes out of sheer panic, maybe there is something I simply don't get.

I feel like the last kid called up for kick ball. Everyone else is matched up, walking towards the pitch and I'm still standing by the fence, trying to figure out the rules...