dating? no thanks.

forewarning: this may or may not turn into a bit of a rant.

in time magazine in 2005, an article was printed about people age 18-25. it has become "a distinct and separate life stage, a strange, transitional never-never land between adolescence and adulthood in which people stall for a few extra years, [postponing] . . . adult responsibility."

i have never really felt like this was the stage of life i was in. i have always felt like i am older than i really am, and i'm not sure why. perhaps because i have older siblings, with whom i always want to fit in, so i maybe i adapt my personality to fit the stage they are in. or maybe it's because i've always worked directly with people who are much older than i am, so i feel like i have to be more mature, so that they would take me more seriously.

but whatever the reason may be, i never have felt like i fit perfectly with people my own age. at my current job, i have been told many times that i seem so much older than 22, and several guesses have been made about my age, ranging from 26-29. i'm never sure whether i should be flattered or bothered by this. but that article makes me think that maybe i'm doing something right.

i have been thinking about this lately, because in my class we discussed this article and it brought up a particular issue that is bothering me right now. i see no need to go into a lot of detail as to why this particular talk struck home for me (my sisters will call me for details in the next week anyway... :) but it did. i completely agree with this speaker. the boys with whom i am in contact seem to be so afraid of commitment, or really of anything that could potentially lead to having to commit. and yet, most of the boys i refer to do harbor a desire to ultimately get married. so why are they so afraid?

i often have dinner with my cousin, who i feel is an impartial and nonthreatening male partisan and can help me decipher the mysterious habits of boys. if i put good food in front of him, he lets me ask him lots of questions about the male mindset, and i think this has helped me some. mainly what it has done for me, however, is realize just how different boys and girls are, and how we will probably never understand what the other is thinking.

i'm sorry that this post is probably vague and cryptic and maybe a little feminist, but i promise i'm not trying to attack. just thinking...