Rainy Days / Stages of Life
I love days like today, nice 'n rainy! Even better, it's a warm summer rain, even though it's technically still spring. I get into an even more introspective mood during these kinds of days. There's something magical about them when the rain stops and it's warm, and a bit muggy out, cloudy skies that are brightly lit in spots, and the calm of everyone being inside. It's like every thing takes a break from whatever it was doing, it's nice. Really puts me in a contemplative mood as I stare at nature.
Today was interesting because I saw someone I went to college with pregnant while I shopped for groceries, coupled with the rainy day I just started thinking about life and time. So very many possibilities in living a life. The "child" I saw many days at college is going to be a mommy real soon. Me? I've yet to really settle down with anyone else even though I have the desire to. I like my solitude a lot of times though, which puts me a bit at odds with my shacking up desire. I've turned down a lot of opportunities so I must prefer solitude to companionship.
When I was a kid, around 8 or so, I thought up the 7 stages of life people go through. (I threw away the list at some point so I just think it's 7, but I did have a list.) I framed it according to the seeming plan for my life so it revolves around school.
1. Child (birth - 6): This is the time when you're new to the world and largely getting accustomed to it.
2. Elementary school (7 - 12): Still growing up, you have the basics of this thing called life pretty much down. Making friends, going to school, you have an awareness about yourself such that you can actually remember life events more. Not too many responsibilities placed upon you, you can largely just enjoy life.
3. High school (13 - 17): Puberty's hit and it's a whole new life from here on out. Relationships start dominating more, whether it's romantic / sexual, cliques, or friends. You never really stop growing up but you start looking back on your life more, changing or challenging pre-existing patterns. Said another way: teenage rebellion.
4. Young adult (18 - 25): You're an adult, you can live on your own and be your own person! Time to explore life and live it with you in charge instead of parents. You start acquiring adult responsibilities. Maybe you start a family, maybe you already have, maybe you'll wait, who knows.
5. Adult (26 - 46): Full-fledged adult human with all that goes with it. Probably you'll start a family because you've explored life as you would choose to live it, you're pretty much your own person now. In many ways the rest of your life has been preparation for this point.
6. Mid-life (47 - 52): Cripes, you're old, when did that happen! Death's door isn't as far away as you always thought it was, time to make some changes. That youthful teenage rebellion period where you looked back on your life and made changes strikes again. All the procrastinations, all the things you said you'd do later, now is when you realize you can't do that forever.
7. Old-age (53 - death): Lived a full life, done a lot, seen a lot, changed a lot. Your body's changing on you, letting you know in no uncertain terms it's almost time for you to depart this life. In many ways can be a freeing time since you're largely passed life and have come to terms with dying; lets you approach your life in a different way than before.
The age ranges above are, of course, approximate and it's really up to each person to decide where they're at, but the classifications themselves seem as valid to me now as when I first thought it up.
You know, my absolute favorite kind of weather is the strong wind that precedes a thunderstorm. The wind is blowing strong and feels really nice, lots of excitement for what's to come, dark skies charged with intermittent lightning, it's perfect. But I can only experience it for a while because the nature of it is such that it's destined to end, eventually the rain comes and the moment's gone.