measuring my real age

I remember being a little kid in the living room watching TV or playing with Silly Sally listening to my mom while she talked on the phone for what seemed like hours and even though I can't remember the conversations, I do remember thinking they sounded so adult. And all the way up into my teens, I wondered when I'd really be a grown up. Well here I am, 15, 20, 25 years later and still sometimes feel like I'm waiting for that moment that I feel like a grown up. I used to think that our childrens ages define our own age. I came to this realization the last time me and my girlfriends went to what used to be our favorite bar to dance (& do shooters) and we noticed that everyone else in the bar dancing & doing shooters were closer to our kids ages than our ages. It wasn't pretty let me tell ya. So it seems that older people with younger kids have it pretty good - they've aged, sure, but having wee one's around keeps em young. A 40 year old with a toddler at home for example still looks and sounds young, just like a 26 year old with a 14 year old at home (hey, I've seen it happen) already looks and sounds old(ish). So even though I'm only 30, I'm really almost over the hill because I have a 12 year old. That sucks rocks if you look at it that way. But having hit a milestone this year, maybe I'll have to reconsider what it is that makes a person old more grown up. This is the year I get extra vacation time at work. For the past few years, I've been bitter about the way my company hands out vacation time. Instead of taking into consideration all the years of hard work we put in with the same industry (oil & gas of course up here in Calgary), vacation time is based on the employees age. Wtf? Two years ago, I was none to happy to learn that our department had hired 2 women in their late 40's who were not only virgins to the industry, but had been "homemakers" pretty much their entire adult lives. Now, I'm not saying anything negative about the choice to be a homemaker, but ... BUT ... for anyone to go into any job with no prior experience and have 5 weeks of vacation immediately handed to them when at the same job, someone else (me) has been working their (my) ass of for nearly 10 years only to have earned 3 weeks vacation because they were (I was) under 30 seems like a little bit of bullshit to me. Just my honest opinion. And as a matter of fact, that sounds like a little bit of age descrimination. Anywhoo, this wasn't supposed to be ranting blog ... I swear I started it with a positive intention ... I am thrilled that I get the extra vacation time I've been waiting so many years for. A whopping 3 and a half days more .. that's prorated of course because I turn 31 in May ... they are precise aren't they? I suppose it's better than stewing over my measley 3 weeks, growling at everyone who gets those extra weeks while I pass them in the halls. And in 2011, I'll get that extra day and a half. That's what is going to make me feel old ... being in the 4-week-vacation age bracket at work. It certainly wont have anything to do with having an almost 14 year old .....