As I struggled to post yesterday’s blog thanks to blogger not letting me paste, (seriously? no pasting?), I found myself reading the tag line under the blog title over and over. I kept coming back to Eric’s age. 32. Is that old? Is that young? Age is such a relative thing.
As a kid, 32 would definitely have been old. Way old. Not grandma or grandpa old, but close; firmly in the land of adulthood. In my simplified view careers would be established, families would be made, and life would progress as it should.
Of course now that I am over the age of 32, I know it’s not nearly that simple. I have a career, only I’m still not sure that’s what I want to do when I grow up. I have a family, but it’s not like it just coasts along with no work. It’s a hell of a lot of work. Not that I’m complaining, it’s just not as easy as I once thought it would be.
I think everyone grows up at a different pace. Eric was at the peak of figuring out who he was when he died. He was figuring out his career and about to propose to the love of his life. He was settling in a city he loved and creating a circle of friends there. He was still evolving. For some people 32 may be old and settled, but for Eric it wasn’t.
I honestly don’t think we are ever old and settled, I think we are always striving for something. It may be a new job, a new house, a new partner, a vacation or a kitchen renovation, but it’s always something. That’s what keeps us going. Eric was in the middle of some of the most major life changes you can make. I wish he had had the chance to complete them. I would love to see the person he was going to become.
It seems people are still young as long as they look at the world in the way we ascribe to youth--with openness and curiosity. From what you write, Eric was young, and that's part of what those of us who never met him are struck by from your posts.
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