Cherry was in town last weekend, and we were casually reminiscing about college days. We were talking about how it doesn't seem like that long ago, and how we really don't feel that much older. Then she dropped the bomb.
"You know," she said, "we're older now than the Buena Vista Moms were when we babysat for them." This was shocking.
"The Buena Vista Moms" collectively refers to a group of families that Cherry, our friend, Ava, and I all babysat for while in school. Cherry and Ava definitely had more interactions with them, but I had a family for whom I would "sit" about once a month.
Buena Vista was a super swanky neighborhood and every single house was a newly built McMansion. They were all fun, pretty and had come from California where their husbands had made their money.
They had fancy, fancy things. In fact, Cherry, on occasion, would go through one of the mom's closets and try on her designer gowns. And sometimes drink the fancy wine they left for her while wearing those gowns around the house (after the kids were asleep, of course). That's Cherry though. I mostly just looked at all their furniture and giant bathtubs.
To now be told that I am OLDER than they were?! This was shocking. There's no way. I don't own enough jewelry.
So I started thinking, what about my real babysitting families whom I used to see every week? Am I older than those moms were too? Again, the issue is not even that I think I'm old now or that they are old/were old then. It's that if I'm now the same age as they were, I have some things to do!
For example, one mom was way cooler than I am now. They had a giant "Fargo" poster hanging in their dining room (which was painted red), and a picture of Drew Barrymore when she was 13, smoking, in their guest bathroom. They had books in Russian. They knew about indie bands and had "Rolling Stone" delivered. They introduced me to "The Daily Show."
The other mom of the other family is a doctor. A doctor.
Okay, I'm not going to be a doctor, but she made her own yogurt and kombucha (which I didn't even know about until then- and still don't drink because it grosses me out). They had things from Whole Foods. They used cloth diapers, they had amazing homemade beer and they had chickens in their backyard. They got "Rolling Stone" delivered too.
I guess what I'm saying is that I need to start preparing my life to impress a 19 year old college girl. Wait, no that's not what I'm saying.
What I'm saying is that it gave me pause to think about my life now compared to the lives of those whom I found so fascinating, and wonder if I'm measuring up. Am I rich enough, cool enough, good enough?
I decided that I don't think I want to be a Buena Vista mom. They had their kids very young, some of them didn't go to college, only one of them worked, and at least one got a divorce.
Also, although I would like to be a little cooler and maybe I could be a little more earthy, I don't need a red dining room or chickens.
It may prompt some changes. At the very least, I'm subscribing to "Rolling Stone," since that seems to be a common theme of success. Ultimately though, I'm pretty happy with my life, and I'm not sad about where I've been or where I'm going. I'm just going to keep on going there.
Then, maybe one day I'll look up and some college sophomore will walk around my house and look at my stuff and think I'm so "old" and "cool". Maybe I'll think I'm old and cool then too. Maybe not, who knows. I just hope she doesn't try on my clothes.
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