A friend of mine IM'd me today telling me she was going to be 25 this Saturday, and that it will be the last birthday she's going to have.
You know, I never really dreaded getting older, but I admit it was kind of scary to turn 30. When I woke up the next day (with a hangover after the best birthday party ever), I realized, bah, it's just a number.
Age is more a state of mind than anything. I mean, I have friends that seem 40 to me, but I have friends actually over 40, even with kids, that are like 20-somethings. You are what you want to be, and as you get physically older, the number becomes less and less relevant.
For example, in retrospect, it seems weird that my mom and step-dad are 20 years apart. Back then, and even today, it doesn't really matter. A friend over 40 with kids and a great job gets like a kid around roller coasters. Heck, I got my first three piercings over 30. So what does age really have to do with anything?
I was wondering when it didn't matter anymore. I think it was somewhere around the time I got to college. You're not a kid anymore, but you're not in the "real world," but regardless, what you do is up to you. From that point on, it's a life-long process of learning, making mistakes and processing the world around you to figure out how you'll deal with the next thing.
Sure, eventually you're going to die. It's as natural as birth, and there isn't much you can do about it. Might as well do what you gotta do in the mean time. The world's one exciting fucking place!