Twenty-Two

So I'm sure you've heard the new Taylor-Swift hit, "Twenty-Two."  I love it.  How cool is it that someone is finally celebrating 22.  It's the first birthday doesn't mean much.  It's the beginning of the next 8 years.  Everyone loves 21 and it's excitement.  But 22 is often neglected.  Thank you, Taylor Swift, for representin'.  

I've been wanting to write about the song for a while, but haven't sat down to be inspired yet.  I love the fact that it captures the age.  Basically it's like "blaahhhhhh."  You are at the awkward in-between age of no specificness.  Like Taylor, most of the world sees this as an opportunity to "dress up like hipsters and make fun of exes".."have breakfast at midnight"...or "fall in love with strangers."  Who cares?  you're 22 right?  Right...to an extent.  As a Christian there's more to it than that.

"We are happy free confused and lonely at the same time," she sings.  So true.  How you are all four all at once, no idea, but it is very true.  

Sunday I talked to an old friend for a long time.  The conversation of two 22 year olds sounds much like Taylor Swift's song.  We talked about the bar scene, college, and life after college.  What the heck are you gonna do?  

So in a heart-felt writer's puke...I wrote this, and realized I have a special friend and Taylor Swift to thank for this post. (Plus a random mix of emotions, little sleep, good morning cookies and crazy circumstances.)  Enjoy.

Twenty-Two

Fear.

I guess I am admitting that I am scared.  Underneath the layer of happiness and confidence and passion…I am scared.  I’m scared of what life holds next.  I’m scared of what it doesn’t hold and the fact that I have no idea where I am going.  I love my life here, but I don’t want to stay here.  I want to go back to school but I’m scared to finish.  I don’t enjoy my major as much as I should and I don’t really want to go into that field.  At the same time I hate the disappointed stares and sighs I get as I walk in a room and tell people I’m perfectly happy being a waitress and working minimum wage jobs. 

                The thought of a real job disgusts me.  I don’t want to be professional.  I don’t want to live in the city. 

                I want to be married and start a family.  I want to experience love and community like never before.  I know who he is and I want to be held and cared for.  I want my best friend to travel the world with me and experience things with me. I want to live in my hometown and be surrounded by family.

               

But I know I’m not ready.  They say I’m not old enough for all that.  You aren’t supposed to move back yet, you’re supposed to live somewhere else first, away from family and friends…without a husband.  Alone.  At the same time, don’t give yourself away to another man.  Don’t sleep around, sleep alone.  Sure, you can date.  But is that really worth the pain and heartache of a temporary fix?  You have about 10 years to kill, do whatever you want, just don’t move home yet and don’t disappoint us.  Remember you have a husband and a future.  As for now, you build.

                As a twenty-something you need to save and invest for your future.  Save and invest money.  That means work, work, work.  Focus on a career.  Not a job, a career.  Oh wait, the thought of a career makes you miserable.  So do what you love to do. ..no, waitressing upsets people.  You want to run the company back home?  That’s awesome! But if you move back now we will consider you a “failure to launch.” 

               

  Save and invest.  Save and invest your time.  Save your time for those who matter, your family and friends.  At the same time they all have jobs of their own and won’t be around, and your family wants to see you succeed.  Invest your life.  Invest your time in something worthwhile now, because later you’ll have a family and won’t have time for it.  So go help someone do something. 

               

Save and invest your heart.  Save your heart for the one you love, but invest your heart in the temporary situations.  A job, a hobby, a charity.  Invest.

               

I think I want to finish up.  Finish up my college days.  Take some fun classes and relax.  Work a few hours a week, but take time to watch TV and go out with friends.  Paint, golf, and run.

                

After I finish I’ll move somewhere neat.  A neat little town with culture and excitement.  A tourist hot-spot with waitressing jobs and fun after-hours.  I will remain pure to my Lord, myself and my family, but I will meet people and make friends with everyone.  Latch on to a female of integrity and valor, someone who can show you the paradise of life.  Live with your heart on God and your eyes on love.  It’s ten years of purity, patience, saving, investing and growing.  This isn’t a horrible experience. 

It’s a beautiful opportunity.

You’re twenty-two, young and beautiful.  Don’t waste it on boys, sex and booze.  Invest it in love, purity and making a difference in the world around you.   Be goofy and immature, because you can.  Be full of energy, life and ideas for your investment, because you are. Twenty somethin'....

The power is yours.  Will you seize it?