DETOUR: Life Happens and at 23 you are NOT an Expert

I love sharing thoughts with 21, 22, and 23 year old - SOMETIMES.  Most times I have to remember that 10 years ago, I was 23 and my brain was not fully developed either.

Here is my brief disclosure:  I do not think that all 21, 22, 23 year olds are morons, I just had a recent encounter with one that made me - ummm well, write this post. 

Photo Credit BedlamFarms

I was carrying a casual conversation with two middle age folks yesterday (I say middle aged as all three of us were 10 years older than the rest of the group) we were discussing that I am considering cutting back on my work schedule (my real job not blogging) and finishing school faster.

I said to my fellow middle-agers "I would like to make enough money so that I can cover Trey's truck payment" - Trey's truck payment is the only extra bill coming into the house after we get married, that I am not already use to paying - when I mentioned Trey's truck payment was $585 the two middle age men started discussing what kind of truck Trey drove  - typical man talk.

Out of the blue this 23 year old steps up and says "it is usually not the kind of truck, it is the fact that the person usually has bad credit"  - I turned and looked at this obviously well educated and well mannered young man and stated "No sir, it is the kind of truck it is".

I mean obviously everyone that discusses money must have bad credit and make bad decisions - or so he insinuated!  

A few hours later, a few more proclaimed statements pointing to the fact that he was obviously more intelligent than me, I asked - "Where did you use to work" - he rattled off a spill about his life then stated "why do you ask" - I replied "oh you look young, so I was curious".

And that was all it took for the final blow of the night - this well educated young man stated to me "well that is because of all the tobacco and alcohol that I stay away from - it really causes you to age you know".

It was obvious this young man believed I looked so old because I make poor credit decisions, smoke a lot of tobacco, sit around and drink a 12 pack of beer a night. 

I replied to this young man "Sir, this would be what 12 years of real life, 2 kids, a full time job, going to school, and minimal amount of sleep looks like".

Before the night was over, I had a few more comments to let me know that I was a huge failure - as the young man would leave the room - we middle-agers would bust out laughing to his expense and his brain not being fully developed.

My message that I would have liked to tell this young man is - at 23 you do not understand the ways of the world - in reality at 33 you don't understand them.

Life takes huge DETOURS and with age comes wisdom.  I wish at 23, I would have listened to all those 33, 43, and 53 year olds - as it would have saved me a lot of time and foolish moments.