Age is Just a Number

As I've grown older and wiser and rounder I've realized that a person's age doesn't really matter very much. We had a surprise overnight visit from some of our very best good friends last night. These particular friends are at least four, maybe five or six years older than us (I can't remember because age doesn't matter, which is why I'm writing this post). We have several other friends who are also multiple years older than we are, in fact, nearly every friend Ricky and I have made since graduating from high school has been older than we are. Are we just that mature that we couldn't possibly make friends our own age? I like to think we are fairly mature for our age but I don't think that's the reason our friends our older.

My hypothesis is this, once you reach a certain age (I think somewhere around 17-18) you stop making friends with the people your age and start making friends with the people that are in a similar stage of life to yours. Young single adults tend to group together in their dating frenzies, newly married couples without kids like to hang out together, new parents cling to one another for support and advice, and so on and so forth. Ricky and I tied the knot at a pretty young age, relative to national standards, so as 21 year-olds, we began making friends with other people who were fairly newly married, they just so happened to be a few years older. It turns out our age differences are nearly never noticed, with the exception being the occasional missed pop-culture reference.

I also have a sub-hypothesis (if that is really a thing) with regards to life experience. I firmly believe that the various life experiences that each of us undergoes help to shape our future decisions, including who to choose as our friends. These days I find myself building friendships with people that have been through family crises or that have had some rough periods of life that they've worked through. I relate to these people more easily and feel that they have a deeper wealth of experiences that have brought them to where they are. For example, I married a man whose childhood (by no fault of his own) included some really rough times. I find him attractive in part because of his perseverence and his ability to choose a different and better life for himself. If I were still in that awful world of dating, I don't think I would ever find myself with someone whose life had been easy, peachy keen and squeaky clean. Where's the depth? Where's the proof that they can rise above and overcome a trial?

What I am trying to say is that I love my friends and I am glad that they don't seem to care that Ricky and I are by far the babies of our friend group. When all is said and done, age is just a number--it is who we choose to be, what road we choose to travel, and what leg of the journey we are on that help us select the best people to surround ourselves with.