People are never happy with their age. Adults always want to be younger, kids always want to be older. Why can’t we just make the best of the age we’ve got? Hell, before you know it, it’ll be gone and a new number will take its place.
“So what if I like to go home, throw on some Kenny G, and take a bath!” -Ross
“We’re 29, not women.” -Joey
Ross and Chandler are expecting their friend Gandolf to come for a visit and you know what that means. Whenever Gandolf is around everything is spontaneous and wild. They always have some sort of adventure leaving the guys with great memories and stories to tell. Joey is skeptical of Gandolf’s greatness. Ross and Chandler are so excited and try to explain to Joey that the best things happen when Gandolf’s around. They meet strangers, go to unexpected places, and end up on a boat! Unfortunately, Gandolf suddenly cancels and Ross and Chandler are devastated. All they do is sit in the apartment and watch tv, balance Ross’s checkbook, and name all the foosball players. When Joey comes in and sees the two lazy bums, he convinces them that they don’t need Gandolf to have fun and that the three of them are plenty spontaneous and fun. So they head out! They later take a breather at Central Perk and when Joey brings up going back out Ross and Chandler admit that they’re exhausted. Joey was relived because so was he. They realize that they don’t like the things they used to when they were 21. They’d rather do things that 29 year olds do like having coffee, watching tv and going to bed at a reasonable hour, hanging out in a quiet place and talking to friends. The guys came to accept their age and learned that when you grow up you leave your past self behind and become a new person that suits you better.. for now at least.
Birthdays are a happy day for children but when you pass that certain age, 21, it becomes a day filled with remorse and self-loathing. Adding another wretched year to one’s age is a terribly melancholy task and no reason to celebrate. But being born is a reason to celebrate! You should celebrate that you lived another year because that is a great enough feat. People just hate growing older. We don’t want to become those wrinkly, shrunken old cuties (I love old people) who can’t drive their own car anymore. People past 21 wish they could revert, you know like Benjamin Button, and be young again. They miss their childhood, high school days, and college years. No one wants to grow up and face the real world, work a job, go through a mid-life crisis, get married, etc. For kids, it’s the exact opposite. They long to be teenagers who can drive, go out without their mommy or daddy, have cool clothes, and are in high school. Of course teenagers wish they were college students and college students are pretty happy where they are until it’s over and they want to be freshmen again. It’s a cycle. We always want to be what we aren’t; we want what we can’t have. We want that youth and innocence or we want the freedom and power. For me, I wish I could be starting my freshmen year in high school again. I long to be young again and not have to worry about the now more eminent future after college. I’m happy where I am but there’s always that part of me that wishes I was younger. I think everyone, myself included, needs to realize that we already had our chance to be that age and hopefully we enjoyed it and have memories of it to keep. We have time ahead of us and we should look forward to the future. I’m not saying we can’t look back on the past, because I sure love to, but we should try to enjoy the present too. Take a hint from our friends Joey, Chandler, and Ross, it’s okay to be happy with where you are; it might not be as good as when you were younger but it’s still good.