GET OUT!

I'm calmly sipping my morning coffee, browsing the Internet and thinking about heading upstairs to put on my face and clothes for the day before heading to work, when I hear Al Roker screaming.

"Do you have a 20-something at home? Tell them to GET OUT!"

Images of weddings and homes are flashing on the screen, and Roker is still apoplectic.

"WHAT is taking these TWENTY-somethings SO LONG to GROW UP?" If his shirt wasn't choking him to death already, I'm sure the veins in his neck would be standing next to Meredith Veira. His head is extra shiny today.

Why is Roker so passionate about twenty-somethings "growing up?" Does he have a twenty-something at home?

Well, Roker, let's see. All those jobs promised to my generation after college? Gone. Our future? Contingent on how much money we can personally sock away since our social security will be all but gone. Our college education? Much more expensive than our parents anticipated, riddling us with student loan debt. Oh, and that Bachelors degree? Equivalent to a GED these days. Jobs are scarce, insurance policies are daunting, and the price of housing when we first graduated was obscene.

It's taking us so long to "grow up," Roker (according to your standards, which means getting married and buying a home, APPARENTLY) because our opportunities are limited. This wasn't the world we were promised. However bratty that might sound.

And I continue to argue with this point of what "growing up" actually is. I know many people, myself included, who don't own a home or are married, but who are financially independent and working up a career ladder. I'm sure Roker means the twenty-somethings that are living at home with Mom and Dad, but everyone is neglecting to point out the middle-ground of twenty-somethings. Yeah, we might wait until the 30s for marriage and home-buying, but that doesn't mean we're not grown up in some ways. I take issue with this gross generalization that if you're unmarried and unburdened with a mortgage, you're somehow "not grown up."

Of course, I agree that there is a degree of settling down that takes place when these things happen. And there is just as surely a sense of the temporary when you're working your way through your twenties and making decisions and figuring out your path. But to claim that we're all at home, sponging off of Mom and Dad, is ludicrous and unfair.

You annoy me, Roker.

Changes In the New Year

(picture- July, 2000)

"The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches." - Anonymous.

Dear Readers, Friends, Characters, and Glitteratis,

As the New Year approaches, it brings with it some big changes, some metamorphoses, some new choices and decisions, and the cap on a period of growing, learning, spreading of wings, and sharing of these experiences. It's only been in the past two years that I've been sharing these things publicly in this blog, and the experience has been nothing less than rewarding. Your kind emails, comments, well-wishes, opportunities and encouragement have continued to support me in my journey as a twentysomething. I know, in my heart, that I am not alone in my struggles and triumphs, and I hope that, if anything, you have found a mirrored voice here.

At the same time, my life is moving in some new directions and, as such, the shape and content of this blog must naturally evolve. I appreciate your patience with this work-in-progress as Ye Olde Blog and I decide how we are going to peacefully co-exist. It's my wish to keep things alive and well, but also a realistic vision that it's time to put my energies into other areas of my life.

For the time being, my goal will be to rely on a new format while I make some necessary changes. I hope that you continue to visit me here, and promise to update you on my new adventures in return.

Thank you, endlessly, for checking in on me. For reading, for caring, for laughing, for sharing your own ups and downs, and to my dear, dear friends and family for so kindly allowing me to borrow their intelligence, wisdom, and hilarity to season my stories which would otherwise be bland without their presence. I promise not to desert you, Glitteratis, just to say that it's time for necessary change and to hope that you'll stick by me.

Cheers,
The New Glitterati