21

kw: local events, observations

21!

It happens to just about everyone, and now it has happened to us. Today was our son's 21^st birthday. I found myself thinking, "How did that happen so fast?" When my wife said just that, I recalled a phone call I got, nearly 22 years ago.

My mother called, and said, "You have no right being 40! I am still telling people I'm in my 20s!" She was being jocular, of course, but there was a bit of genuine existential pain in her words. My mother was the stereotype of a woman who conceals her age. Fortunately, my wife and I make no bones about being 40+ years older than our son. Since I am, myself, a few days away from being 62, he's gotta be 21 now.

But it sure happened fast.