I have always been a lot younger in mind, body, and spirit than my chronological years might reveal. I spent the first 20 years of my adult life in a very conservative small town in east Texas. When I made it to Austin which, if you don’t know it, is one of the hippest cities in the country, I was enchanted with the mix of hippies, young college students tattooed and pierced, the creativity, the slackers, the high tech geeks, the funkiness and the politicians.
I was in my element, I loved it and swam happily in it like a fish in water.
But about 3 years ago I began getting a sneaky feeling I wasn’t as hip as I’d felt a mere year earlier. The clothes at Emerald’s, a chic and funky clothing boutique aimed mostly at college and 20 something girls, was a favorite well into my 40s. But one day, I suddenly felt like maybe Emerald’s clothes were a TEENSY bit young and revealing for this 45+ year old. I hadn’t really gained weight, or changed shape...but something had changed.
Likewise, I used to think nothing of going down for dinner, clubs, or a live music show to enjoy Austin’s vibrant downtown life. But, a few years back, I met a French guy who was 4 or 5 years younger than me, and he was very much a night life kinda guy. Even ‘Jean-Luc’s’ slow French kisses as we made out in a dark corner of a smoky little jazz bar couldn’t hold at bay my little frisson of thinking ‘this scene just isn’t as much fun as it used to be’.
A few hints dropped, but now it’s official. I’ve crossed some invisible line.
This past weekend was the Austin City Limits music festival. It’s one of the premier music festivals in the country. In years past, it bothered me that I wasn’t a die hard fan who spent the full 3 days with 70,000 other people in the killer heat, or the drenching rains to listen to 100+ bands on numerous stages. But, this year as I watched the hordes streaming on foot, in pedicabs, on bicycles and scooters, through the downpours and mud towards the venue, I simply could not relate to the Facebooking, Twittering 20 and 30 somethings with iPhones complete with 463 applications for this and that.
I just didn’t get it. I suddenly realized there is a part of their mental space I simply could not get to. They seemed like beings from another planet, nice beings, but aliens just the same.
Wha’...? Wha’ happened??
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