Things That Make Me Feel Old

I'm turning 39 next week.  In celebration of getting older, I made a list of a few of the things that make me feel old.  There is the opposite list, of course - things that make me feel young.  Perhaps I'll do that next.  This is not a negative list.  Growing older is fun and weird and interesting, and it happens to all of us.  It's okay to notice those changes along the way.

1.  I get confused when articles and people refer to JT.  To me, JT is James Taylor, and I'm pretty sure he'd never write a song called "SexyBack".

2.  Harlem Shakes is what now?  I don't watch reality TV.  The only American Idols I know are Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.  I have absolutely no idea why the Kardashians are famous.  I'm a little upset I know their name at all.  But it does make me feel better to know that I don't care, so please, nobody fill me in.

3.  I watch sporting events and realize I could be the mother of most of the athletes.  The Olympics are the worst!

4.  Learning new things is the best part of growing older.  Continuing to gather knowledge, of all kinds.  And learning something new, whether it's how to cook with a different ingredient, play a new song on the guitar, the meaning of a word, or a piece of history, never fails to make me feel just a little bit more grown-up.

5.  The physical parts of getting older.  This could be a long list.  Gray hair, wrinkles, creaky knees...

6.  Conversations about taxes, insurance, and retirement.

7.  Those signs at the liquor store that say "If you were born after XX/XX/XX, you cannot purchase alcohol."  They say 1992 on them now!  That's when I graduated high school!

8.  Little reminders about how long ago events happened.  The ones that loom large in my memory.  How long it's been since The Challenger exploded (27 years).  Since Kurt Cobain died (17 years).  Since Friends went off the air (8 years).  9/11/2001.

9.  Anything from the 80s.  Madonna, Duran Duran, Rubik's Cubes, candy cigarettes, School House Rock, Simon, walking to school by yourself, Kirk Cameron, cassette tapes, General Hospital, Ghostbusters, Private Benjamin, Ferris Bueller, all John Hughes movies...

10.  Not getting carded.  And then thinking about how exciting it was to turn 21.  And then thinking about how long ago that was.