Thursday, May 21, 2009

Happy Birthday to Me

"I see old women who were beautiful young leading women in my pictures and it shocks me. Men don't but women do. The aging of a woman is always a shock when you haven't seen her in a number of years. They're attractive, but they're somebody else -- brand-new personalities. Men don't seem to change that way. They're idiots in the beginning and never get over it."
- Allan Dwan

Well, Allan's being cute, of course, but there's something kind of awesome about getting older. I turned thirty yesterday and do I feel like I've crossed some kind of threshold? No. But when I jumped up and down last night squealing, "I did it I did it, I'm a grownup now!" I did feel very adult.

And the above passage? It was inspired by Dwan running into Shirley Temple in a hotel lobby, yeas after she became a very grown-up woman with "Shirleys of her own." Dwan barely recognized her until she ran up to him and hugged him. The fact that I burst into tears when I read this? Makes me very happy to be a girl, and a completely grown up one at that.

3 comments:

Levi Stahl said...

Happy birthday! As someone who was essentially 30 from age 20 on, I know what you mean about that feeling of having really made it to grown-up status. I'm raising a glass to you now!

Andrea Janes said...

Thanks Levi!

I think my real age will finally catch up with my mental age when I'm about 80. I'm very forgetful and I enjoy saying inappropriate things and offering strange children candy.

Anonymous said...

Belated happy birthday to you!
Your real age will never catch up with your mental age because you think too fast. I predict and hope it will always be so.
Cheers buddy.