a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by ninjava
ninjava  ·  3422 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What was the pivotal moment in which you realized you'd gotten old?

A mother was walking hand-in-hand with her young daughter. The girl tugged on the mother's jacketed arm and pointed at me.

"Look mommy, a man on a bicycle!"

A man.

Was I a man? No, I was that kid people mistake for a teenage employee at department stores. The kid whose ID get squinted looks when buying aerosols, who can't buy PEGI-18 without an interrogation. Men are old.

Not like me.