Are We Old Yet?

Note: This post is going to be a little different from my previous ones, so many of you may not like it, oh well!

The car bounced as it hit a pot hole, the jolt woke him up as he sat in the back seat. After a moment he peeled open his eyes with great difficulty, his mouth dry, he licked his lips, feeling the morning breath escape his mouth. Outside rain drops spattering across the car, the gray hue from the clouds muted all the light in the car. As he looked around he was unsure where he was in relation to his destination, the trees flew by in a haze. His parents were in the front two seats delicately whispering across the car's console as not to wake him.

It took a few moments for him to right himself, placing his hands on the supple leather, he raised himself off the back seat, stretching out his back and neck, which was tense from the awkward positioned slumber he was awoken from. At first glance he appeared to be like any other boy, dressed by his mother in a penguin outfit that he genuinely hated, wearing it with disdain and discomfort. Constantly, he picked at his suspenders trying to adjust it to a point where he felt comfortable to a fail. His youth was obvious, face filled with baby fat, soft to the touch, his head three sizes too large for his body as it sat awkwardly atop his neck, black hair and dark brown eyes completed his look that were the gift of his father.

The clock on the dashboard flickered with a green hue, the time vexed him, it did not give him an inkling of where he was and how close he was to his destination. As any child would, he began to squirm, there was a growing impatience that he was struggling to suppress, every second felt like ages, the two dots on the digital clock flashed at him as though they were mocking his inability to answer his question. Finally, after a few minutes he could not stand it, he shouted "ARE WE OLD YET!"

Time froze, the sounds of the rain drops hitting the car echoed no more. His eyes focused on a single raindrop that was hitting the windshield smashing itself into the window spreading out in every direction. The sounds of whispering could not be heard, looking at his parents their bodies and faces frozen in time. Confusion and fear began to seep into his heart, pumping ferociously, his head cocked from side to side trying to discern what had happened, when he caught a glimpse of himself rear view mirror. The young face that once encompassed his body, was now sullen, marred with wrinkles, his once exuberant naive youthful eyes were replaced with jaded experienced eyes peering with knowledge gained through age. Suddenly, he found himself asking a new question..."where did the time go."

As I have recently reached the tumultuous age of 25, people call it the quarter life crisis. I find that funny, to call it a crisis, Rwanda is a crisis, getting older is merely a transition. Currently, people my age are standing on the edge looking down at the next chapter of our lives. We are not old, but hell we are not young either. Simply put, we are in no man's land, one foot in our youth, one foot steering us to the next chapter. I continually find myself trying to keep my foot and the feet of others in youth, specifically, partying, boozing and chasing women. Despite my best efforts, a lot of my friends are taking that step away from me, coupling up, planning their futures, and staying home more often than not.

I do not blame them, it's a transition we all eventually must succumb to, mature and move on. If I were in a different place in my life, i.e. employed, in a relationship, I could easily find myself crashing into that next stage. In the end I will delay my aging as much as possible before I say goodbye to my youth and embrace my adulthood.