adulthood

[kate_nepveu]

I generally don't feel old or even middle-aged (elementary-school kids are a good antidote to that, for me). But it seems appropriate to note the one time recently when I genuinely felt like an adult:

I finished T. Kingfisher's Summer in Orcus, in which Baba Yaga grants the eponymous Summer her heart's desire, and because I'm a daydreamer I set about deciding what my heart's desire would be. And after not very much thought, I concluded that the genuine wish of my heart . . .

. . . was to live in a post-scarcity society.

And that's when I said to myself, boy, I'm not even remotely a candidate to be the protagonist of an adventure novel any more. (Not that I ever was. But still.)

Comments

[jreynoldsward]

I like that wish.

As I approach my seventh decade (OMG! I never thought I'd be saying THAT), I find that I appreciate relative economic stability and the idea of a post-scarcity economy a lot more appealing.

Still, I do play out the scenarios in my head, if only for self-defense purposes. And I do have moments where I pull myself up and go "huh? I'm really that old? My parents seemed SO MUCH OLDER at this age." That said, they went through the Depression and WWII, and had more health issues. I'm fortunate and admit it's sheer luck.

But a post-scarcity society sounds marvelous. Really marvelous.

[jesse_the_k]

Ah yes, so did my folks--and they also experienced the WPA and government as a positive force and pulling together "for the duration"

[kate_nepveu]

Yeah, yesterday was my 40th birthday, but I feel moderately confident (whether backed by actual data or not!) that it's not actually the halfway point of my life.