I turned 26 this weekend. I spent my day reading, writing, and hanging out with friends: we ate cherry chip cake covered in strawberries and played Twister. All in all, it was a low-key and stellar day.
What’s not low-key and stellar is people asking me if I’m feeling my age yet. I just turned 26. 26! As of 2018, the average life expectancy for females is 84 years of age. I’m barely a third of the way there! On top of that, why is aging scary? You gain wisdom and experience through countless really cool (and sometimes not so cool) experiences, and you learn from them and you better yourself for it. Plus, things that bother you when you’re younger (body image, whether this person or that likes you) disappear the older you get.
And I’m not afraid of aging. Everything natural on this earth ages: the trees, the mountains, the oceans. Why wouldn’t I want to age along with them? Then again, being a vampire would be pretty cool, too.
Image: Simer Haer/The Cascade
