Into the "Older Than"

Just finished grad school orientation... two days full of long meetings and lines. So far so good. I've been trying to meet as many people as I can remember. I have to be careful b/c at some point I start to lose track of names or they all start to blend together. Despite my introverted self, I've managed to meet quite a few people and learn some interesting characteristics about my design class.

There are 48 of us.

We are...

...Primarily female.
...Mostly under the age of 25
...Not likely to have held a "professional" job
...Over half have experience/education in graphic design
...All but three of us have iphones (I am one of the three)
...Diverse in that our class has the most international students than ever before
...Single (I have yet to meet another married student in my year)

I was sitting around at a table with five other classmates and they were announcing their age and relationship status. The combination of my age, experience and marriage make me feel so much older than at least half of my class. For the first time in my life, I realized I was now in the category of life called "Older Than"... where the world is slowly starting to get younger and younger as I get older.

I have no doubt that these students are incredibly talented, creative, and intelligent regardless of age and relationship status. I am in no way "above" them... the only thing I am is increasingly unable to let myself use the excuse of "oh I'm just young". But in grad school, and possibly in life, we all have one thing in common - we are here to learn and grow - and that alone makes age irrelevant.