Kids These Days

I was sitting in the food court just down the street from my office, having lunch today - grilled cheese and french fries, probably not the best thing for baby but whatever!  The place was packed so anytime someone would vacate a seat, another person would quickly fill it.

The two seats next to me were soon filled by a young man and woman. The man was Irish complete with accent. The woman was Canadian but of Indian decent. They were chit chatting while I was chowing down and browsing the web on my Blackberry.

Here's a portion of their conversation:

Girl: How old are your parents?

Boy: My Dad is 56 and my Mom is 63. How about yours?

Girl: My Dad is 60 and my Mom is 58.

Boy: How old was your mom when she had you?

Girl: Oh she was old!  She was 34 when she had me.

Boy: That's pretty late in life don't you think?

Girl: Yeah. I think my parents wish they had had us earlier so they could have done more stuff with us. I wish they were younger you know, so they could be around longer.

I had two immediate reactions. The first was WTF, I'm turning 37 tomorrow and I'm certainly not OLD and I'm having a kid in 6 months.  The second was, OMG maybe I *am* too old for this?  Is this what my kid will be saying in 24 years to her friend while having lunch in between classes?

I still don't know whether to scream or burst into tears.

My Dad was almost 40 when I was born. I used to wish he were younger, especially since he's all I have had since I was 9 years old. But now I know with his age, came wisdom and insight that none of my friend's younger parents had. Which is probably why we all turned out pretty awesome.