Dirty Thirty

There’s never really been anything I won’t try out once and since 2009 started, I’ve been a ‘yes’ man to anything new. It’s been quite the journey so far with marathons, world trips, and I even upgraded my motorcycle to a 750cc. I went for a foot massage this weekend with a friend after a long day. I’ve had back massages, neck massages and the most memorable to date was the Spicy Grandma in China that murdered my neck and made me a parapalegic for 4 hours, but never foot massages before. We walked into the reflexology place and was greeted by two China grandmas. 'OMG I’m going to die again' was the first thought that crossed my mind, but then again, we were in Canada, and governed by actual laws so if I was paralyzed, I could sue this time. So I relaxed a bit and we started chatting in Mandarin and Cantonese. My friend couldn’t speak much so she sat quietly, nervously smiling, enjoying her massage.

The conversation somehow veered towards what we did, whether we were in school or working, to which I replied that we were both working. My massage Grandma asked me how old I was and I answered. She suddenly stopped mid press, her gnarly knuckles still embedded in my heel and her jaw literally dropped. It was as if I’d told her I’d set her house on fire and punted her dog into the flames. “Nooooo, you’re not 30. You’re… lying.” She said in slow whispered tones.

Since last week, I’ve gotten quite a few of those. From the guy at the liquor store when I was buying my regular 24 case of MGD’s to the 7-11 guy who I bought a lotto 649 from. Regular disbelief that I was really 30 years old. My friend who was with me at the massage, who is almost 23 (but looks 12 herself) also finds it hard to believe that I’m so *gasp* old. I feel young though, I think young and I act young. I’m definitely no where near the ‘act my age’ of my
cousin, who is only 7 months older than I. He’s married and looks his age.

Funny thing is on the card it says "Think Young" when I was still young. I didn't get a "Think Old" card this year.

I could pass for 23.5 and am actually probably healthier than most 19 year olds. My very active lifestyle also doesn’t reflect that of a 30 year old, although I’d say it’s about half half. I still laugh at everything like a 10 year old; loud and quick to smile. I like to talk about everything from aliens in outer space to how to properly invest your money in today’s sputtering economy. I like to hang out with the boys and play video games drinking beer and I like to go to live jazz shows sipping on Reisling. I party until 5am, until I can’t remember much of the night before on weekends and I fall asleep reading English literature on weekdays. There’s nothing really wrong with this though. I love the balance I have in my life. I may act like a 20 year old most of the time, but my assets, education and career are that of a 40 year old, so 30 is a good happy medium, the best of both worlds.

There is one 'issue', however, that I've been told of recently by a great friend of mine.

I’ve heard quite frequently that age is just a number, that you are only as old as you feel, that you’re only as young as you act. I’ve been told that while my lifestyle is fine as a single guy, that I will have trouble finding a partner to keep up with me, or rather, one that I find interesting enough to take along with me on my life journey. I’d thought about this for a while, and it’s kind of true. My partner would have to be one that would be able to act a child with me, accepting of my dorky ways and immaturity. She’d have to be able to accept that while I am 30, I’m still 23.5 at heart and all of the pros and cons that come with it. On the flip side, she’d have to be able to keep up to my ambition, my experience and be able to keep me intrigued through constant conversation of both deep philosophical debates and simple ‘how was your day’s of mature adults. I'm not sure what my friend was eluding to, whether she meant I'll never find someone like that, or whether she meant that I should change my lifestyle. She didn't say when I asked her, she only said that I had to find out for myself.

I guess being 30 has it's own new set of pros and cons. Gone are the insecurities of the teens, in the early 20's every person struggles to find themselves and their identity in the world and in the late 20's you get comfortable with who you are and really grow into being a strong individual as opposed to the conformity and social acceptance that we all strived for in our early 20's. Individuality is sexy, independence is amazing. What's 30 hold for us?

I'm looking forward to finding out.