Friday, October 05, 2012

A Quarter of A Century

I turned 25 last week and it was a wonderfully strange day. Mumford and Sons' album came out and they announced touring the UK this winter, my whole family came to visit me and my actual birthday was just the pinnacle of a joyous birthday weekend, I had dinner at a very fancy seafood restaurant, and for dessert I threw an ice-cream party where people dressed up beautifully to the theme "A Quarter of A Century". I was showered in love, affection, and original presents.
Turning 25 was a sort of big deal for me - ten years ago, I considered 25 the age when adulthood was not just a vague imagination but a reality of life. I thought of myself as married with children and a successful career. I thought of myself as a proper adult - and any failure of fulfilling this life plan would have seemed like a major disappointment. Truth is, though, despite the fact that my life couldn't be any different from that imagination, I am - in the grand scheme of things - perfectly content and would want my life to be any different. We change, we adjust and reality is - 25 is only a quarter of a lifetime after all, with plenty of time to achieve this decades' aspirations.