feminspire:

Growing up, before my friends and I started a game with our dolls, we had to create intricate backstories for them. We’re millennials, so among many other things, this means that we’re obsessive planners. Our dolls had names, family members, careers, goals, spouses, hobbies, and of course, ages.

It’s this last one that’s perhaps most interesting to look back on. My Barbies were always either thirteen or twenty-eight; never anything else. This became a running joke among my friend group, because while other people’s toys exhibited some variety, I held fast to my two favorite ages. To me, those times were perfect. They were either precocious adolescents or women in their prime trying to have it all. I couldn’t wait to catch up with them. More than a decade later, I’m still wondering if I can skip a few years.

I’m currently in the time of my life that people both look back on as their best and also never want to relive; I’m in my twenties. It’s something I’d been dreading before it even occurred. I’m not usually someone who worries about age making you different, but entering a whole new age group sounded like quite a step. My friend Sarah and I agonized over it before our birthdays. Hers was a few months before mine, so I mocked her for being old for a while before finally facing down the number myself. It was intimidating. We’ve been friends since high school, and the idea of not being teenagers anymore terrified us…

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