Good News: I'm NOT the Old Lady

In the last week, I've been told "oh geez... you're old" and that graduating from college in 2007 would make a person "really old," which is a real blow to the ego of a young woman who was told she was "middle-aged" just a few years ago (am I over the hill now? at 27 years old?). I had developed a bit of a complex after the middle-aged comment, which carried through to my enrollment in graduate school. One of my biggest fears was being the old lady. As a matter of fact, every program I visited, I asked about the demographics of the grad students.

Fast-forward.

When first meeting my classmates, I thought that my five years of work experience made me unique, and I actually publicized my fear of being the old lady. Oh my friends, I had no idea the company I was keeping. It turns out that there are two major factions in my cohort: the '84s and the '90s. Nearly one-third of my classmates were born in '84 and another third were born in '90 (and one-third we don't really know about because they're debaters). The first time I heard one of the '90s announce the year he was born, I shrieked in horror. They're so young! My peer group has always been comprised of people born in the 1980s - sometimes even late '70s. All of a sudden, the '90s have infiltrated my peer group... and I'm okay with it.

So we have the '84s, the '90s, The Professional (who's right in the middle), and Bulgarian Radio, who is simply timeless (I owe him that compliment after calling him Bulgarian Boy Band last night). Timeless as he is, one would probably guess he's an '84, so we'll make him an honorary member.

Numbers game aside, my fellow '84s have assuaged my fear of being the old lady, and they bring valuable and interesting experience to the table. I'm not the only one who stepped away from a career, from coworkers, from familiarity with the fear of being the old lady/man. I'm not the only one who hasn't been in a classroom for half a decade. I'm not the only one who will turn 30 the year we receive our MAs from Wake Forest. I see some MAJOR 30th birthday celebrations in the future... stay tuned.

And last night, the '84s, the '90s, The Professional, Bulgarian Radio, The Married One's husband (whom I think we'll call Beer Snob) and a fantastic second-year (yet to be nicknamed) hit the streets of downtown Winston. Good times.

YOUR treat for making it this far is a glimpse of the girls from my cohort: me, The Married One, R&B, and App Ad.

Peace, love, and 1984--

Emily