old?

Today I was asked how old I am. Typical question - but for the first time in a while I actually felt my age. Or maybe even the age I look (which is even younger). The people I was out with are older....not all of them by much, but it was the first time that I felt young and like most of my life stretched out before me.

For some reason, looking at all the next steps coming up in life and the level of seriousness with which I'm thinking about them, I've felt more like I'm on the aging adult end of life instead of the coming up on adulthood start of life. It was interesting.

The topic became politics and I thought to myself, "remember when you thought you wanted to be President of the United States....or at least Governor? What a young, foolish kid you were. Too bad you missed out on that opportunity." And then I paused. And thought. And then realized, "well, really, 26 years old is just starting out when you think about politics. And in reality, maybe now is the time to be doing exactly it is that I'm doing." And in that moment, I felt my age. I felt like I still had 74 years of life stretching out before me with the same opporunities I saw when I was 16.

It was refreshing.