The Big 27

I've been waiting for this for a long time - the day I turn twenty-seven. Years ago, probably during junior high or high school, I decided my favorite number was 27. I based this on the fact that it was the number I always thought of every time I needed a random number to use in a sentence, like "UHF? Yeah, I've seen that movie like 27 times!" (By high school, I probably had seen that movie close to that many times.) And it seemed to appear a lot of times randomly, like the order number at In'N'Out. Now I know that if you're looking for a particular number you'll see it everywhere, but I'm okay with that.

Anyway, so turning twenty-seven feels particularly momentous given all of that. I have high expectations for this year, and I have a feeling July 4th (round-a-about) will be a big part of that. Becoming a father will likely make me feel older, or at least like I ought to be more mature, but I'm determined to ignore all of that and continue feeling like I'm still just barely out of college.

My mother-in-law wrote me yesterday and told me to enjoy the last fleeting moments of youth before turning 27, and glue someone's work assignment to their desk and make funny faces in the mirror. I enjoyed that and told her to send that to me every year. When I was young I thought being 20 and older was old and meant being serious and not having "fun" anymore. Even now I think I'm tempted to think along those lines sometimes, though the age at which that happens is always changing. What I enjoy realizing is that life is nothing like I thought it would be, just like being a senior in high school didn't turn me into the type of person I always thought seniors in high school were.

I'm going to enjoy being 27 I think. It is the best number after all.