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When is a girl not a girl?

I don't know about you, but I've never felt much of a woman. That's not to say that I'm hankering after a willy transplant, just that in my head I haven't really gone past the age of 18.

Obviously I'm not 18. When I look in the mirror I am most certainly NOT 18, or even 20-something. I am most definitely 30-something. So why won't my mind grow up in line with the everspreading sag and crinkle that age brings with it?

It may well be that I'm just a typical Generation X-er, you know, that 'ignored' generation sandwiched in between the self-congratulatory antics of the 60-something Baby Boomers and the narcissism of the baby Millenials. I don't want to feel older than the new retirees, sucking up adventure holidays with their '60 is the new 40' attempt to reclaim glamour rather than enjoying a well earned snooze in their La-Z-Boy in front of the telly. Nor do I want to join the ranks of the me-me-me Millenials suffering from RSI of the thumb from too much texting, marking time until they too find their 15 minutes of fame via reality TV (because this is the generation that is way too smart to work for a living).

So what's left for me? Maybe I'm mentally stuck in my teenage-woman cusp because that was when technology didn't rule my life, when I still carried around 10p pieces in case I needed to make a phone call while out and about, when a message was something written with a pen on a post-it note, when www. was the province of boffins and geeks and before people cared about who Paris Hilton is shagging this week.

In hindsight, those were innocent times. Sure, we had drugs, AIDS, the Gulf War, the death of Freddy Mercury, the birth of New Kids On The Block and and the IRA bombing 10 Downing Street, but we also had the collapse of the Soviet Union, Twin Peaks, Madonna when she was still properly radical (Vogue, Justify My Love), house music going mainstream and Douglas Coupland's novel Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture. Chew on that, Millenials! Your copy of Heat just doesn't make the grade!

So if I'm still a girl (in my head) then I can lay claim to this glorious postmodernist mash-up without having to fully immerse myself in the techno-jungle of the 21st Century - I can act as an observer while still participating. I can blog away merrily, fool myself that people I haven't seen for a decade are still friends because it says so on Facebook, send no-show apologies by text because typing the word 'sorry' is so much easier than actually saying it, exclaim over pictures of La Lohan's protruding collar bones in Grazia magazine and read celebrity inanities on Twitter - all from the safe emotional distance provided by the magic words of: "Oh yes, but I remember when..."

Comments

lose belly fat said…
Well said. I think I am a bit of a mixture. See I still feel as though high school was yesterday even though I am approaching my 20 year reunion. I am a text message junkie for sure. Most of my friends are younger than me however I live the life of a retiree. I am lucky enough to have had a huge weight lifted of my shoulders (well my body) that changed my life from someone heading into my 40's with grey hair and an overweight body working the 9 to 5 hum drum life to a slim younger look and feel and helping others do it too. So I guess before I was the average person all grown up just going with the flow. Now that I had my life changing weight loss it inspired me to be young again and live life to the fullest by helping others do the same. So I live like a retiree because I love my home business and I have the freedom to live like a kid and take my son out on the lake or to Magic Mountain (theme park) after school.
Anonymous said…
Oh my! What goes around, comes around - with a little shape shifting perhaps. Still a girl at heart - of course. Remembering when... oh yes. But tell me, as I creak around in my La-Z-Boy snoozer, reaching unsuccessfully for that complicated controller thingy, having mislaid my reading glasses (whoops, just stood on them as I lurched out of La-Z-Boy), who are 'New Kids on the Block'? Never heard of them! Now let me dream - yes, it was the summer of '68....Cool man!
Susan said…
Oh my goodness! Those are the truest words. I am definitely trying to fit in somewhere myself. So do we in-betweeners have a title of sorts as well???

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