Growing Up.

My life is strange.

Well, okay, I'm probably far more normal than I'd like to admit. In any case, I'm not making that statement to complain. Only to make an observation. Something to ponder. Maybe even to dwell on. But definitely not to whine about.

What is strange today is the thought that many of friends are not my age. I have a few who are a bit older than me -- even older than my oldest brother. I trust them. They care for my family and me well. There are others, a worthy number, actually, who bear the burden of the dreaded title 'teenager'. Innocent and plain enough, for some reason I don't like that label. But that's who they are. I'm not sure why they talk to me, but they do. I listen to them. I walk with them. I speak honestly to them.

I would be amiss if I were to ignore the fact that I do have close friends--the closest, even-- who are my age. Some of them have jobs that are surprisingly similar to mine. One of the reasons we still talk to one another, I'm sure. And there are other friends, who for some strange reason, still talk to me even though we live far away and I'm not a great long-distance friend. Many of them are lacking in this too (as I believe they would admit), so that may be why we're still friends.

And some friends are moving somewhere far away, even though it's in the same time zone. I'm still pretty mixed about this one. But I'm optimistic that they'll still talk to me.

But, back to my point. It's strange having friends who are so much older, and so much younger than I am. I often feel like I'm living through my own teenage years all over again, and at the same time living through my own kids' teenage years long before they've arrived. Both re-living and living ahead makes from a short ride on a fast machine for my emotions. I rarely saw this before this summer, but now it's everywhere I look. The teenagers in my life grow up: they get jobs, they have serious relationships, and they go to college.

But all of this puts me in this strange place of feeling simultaneously 15, 19, 49, and even 32. Strange.

Wait. Did I have a point?