When did you realize...
 

Have you ever had times or experiences that made you realize that you were too old for things or have outgrown people in your life?

I was thinking about this because of two experiences I had yesterday:

1. I called my best friend since 7th grade yesterday to talk about my wedding (she's a bridesmaid). It was almost like we had nothing to say to each other. It's been building up to this for a while. I went to college; she didn't. I have a good job; she doesn't. Mr. Mox & I are functional; her and her man, not so much. She lives with her parents in our hometown; I moved to a new city and am trying to forge my new life. It's almost like we cannot meet on a common ground anymore. When we actually have conversations, we reminisce about the past but cannot find anything current things to forge ahead in our relationship with. It makes me sad. :(

2. I was at the mall yesterday (something I don't do very often) and went into the stores I usually check out (American Eagle, Gadzooks being two of them) and felt like, "Oh Lordie. I am the oldest person in this store!" Seriously, I was practically playing tug-of-war with a 14 year old in Gadzooks over a tank top and felt like screaming, "Give it up! I actually have money to spend, hootch!" If I'm wearing the same clothes as someone born after the movie Cocktail came out, then I need to find new places to shop.

i remember a couple of months ago, when was hanging out with an old friend of mine. she's a few months older than me but i cant believe it. she may be married, but she doesnt take it to seriously. when i was hanging out with her, she was still acting like we were in high school. she will not grow up. you know what she said to me after she got married? 'i can now have sex without feeling guilty!' that may be true, but can you look for for the other good things about marriage? she also dropped out of college after one semester. now she has a job as a waitress. she also dresses like she is a punk goddess gone wrong.
i havent talk to her since may and i dont really miss her. sounds mean but there is no point for us to hang out anymore.

two words...justin timberlake.
yuck!

LOL!

what I will never be too old to play in the MCdonald's playplace

1) I went to the same school from 4-12th grade, so after graduation, it didn't sink in until my first day at SDSU that I'd never be walking through the halls of SCPA ever again. It was kind of surreal, considering I had done the same routine on the first day of school for 9 yrs.

2) I'll be honest: When I was first rushing to a greek, the first thought in my head was "I wanna go back to HS to show everyone my letters and show them how well I've done. It took me a while to realize that they probably wouldn't have given a rat's ass.

3) We have a county fair called the Del Mar Fair. I went every years since I was 7 except this one. When it got to this summer, I realized the only people my age who go to the fair bring their significant others. Not having one, I kinda just got over it.

ooh, i definately agree!!

my first semester of college, i went to visit another friend on another campus...and realized that these friends were sooooo not my friends. we had gone to a party and i had been hit in the face with a bottle. i ended up going to the hospital and had a broken nose. the next day, we were going to a football game. i agreed to go, but i really wanted to go home after the game. they said, "we'll see." i was soooo pissed off. i didn't talk to anyone at the game. we got back to my friend's dorm and i called my parents and asked them to come and get me. lol...i was about 4 hours away! they said they would come, but i should check a bus schedule first. anyway, these people all knew what i was doing and never once said, ok, she really wants to go home, we better go! nope...they wanted to stay and WATCH PORNOS!!! needless to say, i took a cab to the bus station and took the bus to my parents house! my dad picked me up at 3 AM and i NEVER EVER EVER spoke to any of those people again.

more recently, i have no interest in going to clubs. honestly, i don't want to pay $15 to get in some where that i can't even talk to the people i went with bc it is soooo loud. and drinks are ridiculously expensive....even water!!! so, i might be an "old" lady, but i would rather spend time with my friends!!

I used to be a HUGE fan of going out on College Night with all my friends..............




and then I turned 21! I soon realized that there were people using fake-id's to be 18 so they could enter the club! No wonder all my older friends never wanted to go dancing with us on Thursday night! Somehow, I was totally blind to the 16 and 17 year olds at the clubs with us!

I remember going to the beach all the time just to drive around..have fun with the girls and meet guys. After comming back from my first year of college, a couple of my friends that I wasnt really as close with since I left for college all went to the beach. I had no fun at all...it was too busy to have fun. The cars were not as cool to look at anymore and the boys were as lame I had seen while away to college! Thats when i KNEW I had changed so much my friends were no fun and neither was what we were doing....IM TOO OLD FOR THIS SHIT!! :D

i went to college and after a quarter, after i rushed (unfortunately in my opinion), I realized that i didn't care what other people thought of me anymore. i figured the only good opinions i needed about me were from myself. this was a really novel concept to me but i'm so glad that i realized it when i did....although i wish i had figured that out sooner.

also sometime this past year i realized that i really prefered curling up with a good book to going out and partying all night at times. that really helped my gpa too actually; and when i did go out i had more fun with sipping the same drink the whole night than going through 6 or 7 in a couple hours

I think this summer was a lot of what everybody else has been describing. The main way you can see it is in all the new clothes I've been buying. Instead of buying baggy jeans and GUSTER tees or whatnot, I'm buying skirts and blouses...it's like I could go out there and be a teacher already, just based on my wardrobe. :) Also all those times when I make a decision and then think to myself, "Wait, that was the *responsible* thing to do!" (For example, I was going to take on a job at KFC, and then decided not to because I realized that I needed to have enough time for classes.)

Drat this whole growing up thing!!!

I had a very good friend in HS, who graduated a year ahead of me. We were always kind of different, but when she went to college in Pittsburgh and I stayed in Louisiana, we grew apart a lot.

Her first year we kept in close touch, but she got more and more involved in animal rights groups and didn't have time for our friendship anymore. We rarely ever talk anymore. She sent me an engagement present and I emailed her a thank you note and she never responded.

I had a hard time deciding whether or not to ask her to be a bridesmaid, but decided not to. I'd feel a bit odd having a Wiccan stand in a Catholic ceremony. Plus, she and I just aren't that close anymore.

I also notice that I'm too old for things when I go shopping. I'd love to just not give a rat's ass about what anyone thinks about what I wear, but I've got to be at a certain level of conservatism due to my profession. But I refuse to give up my Hello Kitty tshirts :p That's my holdout.

It always hits me how far I've come since I went away to college every time I'm home and I see people I knew in high school that stayed in our hometown. For example, last year I was at Court Day and I ran into two of my old friends. One of them dropped out of college after the first semester, and the other had two kids trailing after her. We tried to talk, but it was obvious we didn't really have anything in common anymore.

Then, a couple nights ago at the fair, I saw some girls I hadn't seen since graduation. They were dressed like they were going to a club and one had her hair bleached blonde, and they were trying to chat up these guys I wouldn't have touched with a thirty-foot pole now that I've seen what else is out there. I thought it was kinda sad...here my best friend and I were walking along talking about grad school, and these other girls were still doing the same thing they did in high school.

And then, here's the kicker...I recently found out that one of my good friends from home had a baby with the, ahem, gentleman (I use the term loosely) she ran away with after graduation. This guy is almost 50 and doesn't work, and she gave up a nice scholarship to a really sweet private school to go and live with him. I see her in Wal-Mart occasionally, but we never speak because I guess there's just nothing to say.

Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up
 

I was thinking about this the other day. I recently met up with my friend from Jr. High a couple weeks ago and we were talking about our old classmates. When I was in Jr. High I had this very niave way of thinking that everyone would turn out alright and that everyone would become successful. It's this innocent but false belief you have as a kid that everything would turn out fine and that all roads would lead to home, but it doesn't always turn out that way.

Several of my classmates from Jr. High never even went to college, others dropped out, several have kids, and one of them died from bulimia. My friend and I are considered a success story compared to the others.

Yeah, being grown up is great but realizing you're not a kid anymore is kind of like a numbing feeling.

Haha! I totally agree with that one! I remember how awesome "college night" was when I was a freshman. Now everyone just looks so young! Makes me feel old...

what is scary is running into one of your students in a bar! and unfortunately, he was legal.

Well, not students, but people who were freshmen or not even in HS when I came to college. I will always see those people as 15 years old, and when they walk into the bar, it still floors me.

I think I really realized my age when I was a counselor at a summer camp two weeks ago.

I realized that I dress more like the 25-35 year old counselors and directors than I do the teenaged campers.

Eek!

Another part of it was that there were campers that I remember when they were 8 or 9, and now they're like 16 and so grown up.

When did I go all adult on myself!?!?

AMEN!!!:D

I think I'm getting to old for the whole club scene. If it's not a strict 21 and up joint, I don't want to go. Everyone looks like they're 12 anyway. And I REALLY realized I was getting older when I bought a pair of pumps just because I thought they were cute.:eek:

When I turned 22 almost a month ago.

I'm coming to a realization that I am getting old.

*edited to add*
When one of the kids you baby sat, owns a car. :eek:

Story of my summer.
 

This summer has been an eye-opening experience for me. I have kinda got rid of my whole social circle. Everything got to redundant and boring to me. I started to go out a lot and I started to realize, why the hell am I going out all the time just act stupid and wake the next day and ask myself why??. Made no sense, everything to me now seems so insignificant. I'm more concerned with just achieving my goals and being more to myself and my family. Since I've been out of school for about a year and working to pay off some debt. I've refocused and decided to finish off my degree at Texas Tech and try to get into their law school. Gosh this summer has really opened up my eyes and made see alot of things. 1. I'm gonna have to work really hard to get back on track. 2. Things are gonna go always accordingly. 3. I really need to get back in touch my fraternity. 4. Family is always there no matter what.

Here is to growing older and wiser.

Mike at 22.

I realized I was growing out of my younger friends set when they wanted to buy the cheapest furniture, while I was wandering toward the nicer stuff I wanted to keep for awhile. This also applies to the boys they date, who are sooo transitional (and they wonder why the boys never call). I've been finding out that I enjoy going out for dinner and drinks with my friends, much more than going out to a club.

It hits me in waves...

My latest experience was probably at graduation this spring. They were showing the seniors slideshow and this one picture flashed up of a couple of my students when they were in 8th grade. I remembered them looking that gangly and young, but now they look like young adults.

I've gotten over the clothes thing. It's just a necessary evil with being a teacher. I don't go out to clubs, mainly because I don't want to run into my students. Call me crazy ;)

Everytime I think I am getting better with adjusting for my age (I'm 24), something will remind me that I'm not a kid anymore.

It happens all the time:
-when I refuse to drink beer out of a keg.
-when I realize that I'm the only 21+ person in a bar.
-when I turn up my nose (even more than before) at A&F.
-when I wake up sick on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons and realize I can't party like a rockstar anymore.

This job I have (working with high schoolers) keeps me feeling old all of the time. All of these girls have cell phones and use them ALL THE TIME--I don't remember anyone having a cell phone
except for emergencies and driving, and I went to an affluent high school!

I've always dressed a little nicer than the typical college student--no AE or Aeropostale for me! So, I didn't really have a shock with that one. Primarily, it's just been the shock of entering the "real world" that makes me feel old.

I don't think I would want be around some of you when you turn 30...or even 25, *yawns* lol. I think some of you (and many early 20-somethings) are forcing yourselves to grow up too fast...in some ways. You have the rest of your life to be old. :)

I realized I was getting older:

-Ditto on partying like rock star. Around 11:30, I'm already iching to go home. Tired and grumpy.

-I was listening to Pearl Jam and my baby sister, 15 yrs old who is visiting me, ask me if they're an old band. I'm like, dang, didn't realize I would call Pearl Jam and old band.

-When most of the bands comming out are younger then me

Can't think anymore, it's depressing.

I realized it when:

1) I hate watching MTV for any amount of time now...

2) When I noticed the proliferation and extreme use of the word "like" in sentences...

3) When anyone under the age of 17 annoys me in a mall/at the gym/at the movies...

4) When I started wanting to take vacations at hotels/resorts/destinations that don't normally cater to children....

5) When I actually wait to see if a band will be around for another album before getting on their "bandwagon"!

My moment was kind of self-releasing.

My best guy friend, Chris and I had ours together. We had went off to college and came back home to spend the summer together. Well, my parents were on the verge of a divorce and he came down to Georgia to rescue me before I was about to just kill my "dad"(mind you, my real dad and Chris's dad died in the same car accident and they were best friends). I hung out with him and his brother's fraternity brothers(all older than us). While I was there, I hung out with their girlfriends too. They took me to places like Banana Republic, J Crew, and Cache. When I came back to college after the break, we were getting dressed to go out. My friends were wearing the same black pants, black flip flop looking sandals. I was wearing a black dress with white swirly designs and sandals that looked like they were killing my feet. When I walked in the room, they were like 'You look so old.' I was like 'Dudes, we're 20. We need to dress like it.' They rolled their eyes and said, 'Okay, Miss Vogue. You look like you're going to a nightclub.' I was like, 'We are.' Let's just say they got carded at the door. . .the bouncer let me in. Since we drove in 2 separate cars, I waved goodbye to them and walked in. That's when I realized that they were too childish for me. I called Chris like a week later. He was like, 'No s-. I went to the club with Justin and Dillion(our other best friends) and I was dressed in a buttoned down shirt and nice slacks. They started laughing at me but guess who got hit on the most?'

Now, my guy friends aren't ugly but Chris is the better looking of the group.

Im not really sure if I can say that I feel like I am getting older.. because well Im not that old (only 22). :p

I have had many of the same experiences as most of you.. with the clothes, friends from high school, etc. I just think its relative to what stage you are in your life. I can look back and see how my clothes and friends have changed through different stages.

I just think that I am realizing that things are changing a lot. Since I am about to graduate this december and was set to move out to seattle with my boy.. start to settle down.. but this summer things have changed a lot. I think I realized there is so much more I need to do before I do that.