Ten years.

It's 2010.

Does anyone know what happened to the last ten years? Wasn't it just a little while ago that I was a little girl trying to fit in at my middle school? (And I went to an academic magnet school. A school for smart kids. Even with that, I still didn't fit in.)

I don't know why it made me feel the way that it did, but right after midnight, when the year 2010 was officially here, it hit me all of a sudden that I'm going to be twenty-two in approximately three and a half months.

Twenty-two is nothing. I am fully aware of that. But the thing is, I don't feel like I'm nearing twenty-two. I feel much more like I did ten years ago. Like I'm nearing the age of twelve. And that's on a good day. There are many times when I don't even feel that old.

How can I be twenty-one, going on twenty-two? Did I miss the last ten years?

I was hanging out with a cousin last night, and he was the one that brought my age to my mind. It was sometime after 1 AM and he realized that, hey, it was 2010. He then said, "I'll be twenty in two years." Twenty, a milestone that I have already passed. Upon hearing him say that, my upcoming birthday jumped in front of my face and said, "Hey, you're going to be twenty-two this year." Oh really? So soon. I guess that's right. I was born in the 80s after all, and I now know many intelligent young people, fully capable of thinking for themselves, who don't even remember the 90s, let alone the 80s. Oh my. My cousin also said last night that he didn't feel like he was about to be an adult. My answer: "I still don't feel like I'm an adult."

I'm interested to see if I ever do. Or if I will continue to do grown-up things, like buy my own groceries, pay my own bills, drive across the country alone, graduate from college, pay my own rent, get married (!), have kids (!), and feel like I am a completely unqualified child, wondering when someone is going to catch on, ask me what on God's rainbow earth I am doing, and send me to clean my room.

Here's to the next ten years. But right now we'll focus on this one. I'm eager to see what happens in 2010. I feel like something big is going to occur, but that may just be a feeling. However, that feeling has proved to always be true thus far, so there's no evidence that I should doubt it now.