When reflecting on age, I realized that age can not be defined just by the number of our years, but how each one of us perceives the different periods or ages of life.
The "Age of Innocence", that wonderful period in each of our lives when the world had no limits. Nothing was beyond the reach of our imaginations as children. We knew that one day we could be president, an astronaut or even an Indian chief, the decision was ours to make. During this period of my life, I knew I was going to grow up to be a world famous recording artist and an archeologist. I didn't think about the roads I would have to travel to reach these goals. I just knew that some how I would reach them.
The troubled "Age of Rebellion" had each of us stretching our wings of freedom and testing the framework of our parents" teachings and morals. This is also when each of us realize that the world is defiantly not fair and not all of our dreams will come true. As a teenager, I still fostered the dream of becoming an archeologist. After working as a student on two small Indian mound digs, I finally accepted that I was in love with the thought of discovery but not the actual day to day reality of archeology. My love of music persisted through out my rebellious years and cause constant friction between my father and I. He wanted me to plant my feet firmly on the ground and plan for a future that mirrored his own; however, I wanted nothing to do with my parents" reality. I wanted to mold my own.
Early adulthood brought the "Age of Reason", when we think we know so much more than our parents about raising children, making a marriage work, holding done a job and pursuing that one last dream. This age of my life probably brought the most friction between my parents and me. I knew I wasn't going to make the same mistakes as they had while raising me. I wasn't going to yell at or spank my children. I was going to be able to have my dreams and family too and not become the bitter prunes that I saw my parents as.