20 is a weird age. I'm not saying it's a bad age, but it's definitely a weird one.
As a college junior, I'm finally allowed to live in the upperclassmen housing, meaning I am finally living in an apartment on campus. For the first time ever, I'm living in an apartment where I'm cooking on my own every night (and I love it), but it's kind of strange because I'm still in college, and I'm not fully in the "adult" world yet.
I just really don't understand 20.
I'm old enough to be held responsible for myself when it comes to signing risk waivers, knowingly signing my life away in case something goes horribly wrong, and I'm old enough to go off to war. I'm still not legal to buy or drink any alcohol, but I'm so close that the suspense is killing me. Like imagine what it was like when the drinking age was 18? Because I can't. I can't even legally buy a lighter in Boston to light a candle because you have to be 21 to be able to buy those here. Can someone please explain this to me?
Nothing significant (that I know of) really happens when you turn 20, not like there are a ton of other significant birthdays. Turning 24 probably feels the exact same as turning 23, just another year older. Up until now, most birthdays have had some meaning behind it.
Turning 12? It's your last year before you're a teenager! How does that make you feel?
Turning 13? Oh my gosh, you're finally a teenager! How does it feel?
Turning 14? Wow, you're preparing to go to high school soon! How does it feel?
Turning 15? That first year of high school flew by! How does it feel?
Turning 16? Happy sweet 16!! You're finally getting your permit/license! How does it feel?
Turning 17? You can finally go see those R rated movies you used to sneak into! And you're finally getting your license! How does it feel?
Turning 18? You're now legally an adult! How does it feel?
Turning 19? Your last year as a teen! And in some places you can buy cigarettes! How does it feel?
Turning 20? Um, cool! One step closer to being 21, I guess? Should I ask how it feels?
I'm serious, 20 is just really weird.
There's someone you know that is either engaged, married, pregnant or all of the above, while you're sitting in the bedroom of your college apartment thinking about how badly you want those Oreos but how badly you don't want to get out of bed to get them. Everyone's lives are going in 40 different directions, and it's just weird. Am I a twenty-something? Probably not, but hey, I don't know the requirements for being one.
No one seems to take you as seriously at 20 than they would at 21. Like yes, we can now go out and sit at a long piece of elevated wood and drink a liquid that has the potential to kill us all and discuss "professional" things because you have circled the sun 21 times.
So here I am, sitting in my kitchen at the age of 20, waiting for my chicken to defrost while simultaneously feeling like a grandma who has cooked for her grandchildren for 30 years and a 12 year old who shouldn't be allowed between a stove, when in reality this is my seventh day of cooking completely on my own (without my parents around to cook with).
Being 20 just seems like I'm in a strange limbo, the hallway between being a teenager and being 21, waiting for the moment the imaginary frat boy stops asking who I know here and just lets me join the world of 21 already.
