This weekend, I was out with the girls at the W Hotel rooftop bar, celebrating my friend’s 25th birthday. It was nothing intense - just light cocktails and strawberries, lounging at a private table overlooking the DC panorama. By 12 AM, at least 4 of us (myself included) were ready to call it quits and go home.
Now, if any of my older co-workers, family, or less socially-inclined acquaintances were to read this, they would see no problem with a 12 AM closing time. The thought of it would, in fact, exhaust them. But for a party girl like me, and for a party group like us, shutting it down at 12 AM could only mean one thing – we are getting old.
Since a lot of us reached the 25-year milestone in life recently, and as the rest of us rapidly approach it, there has been an increasingly common refrain: “I just can’t do the heavy drinking, the 4 am bedtimes, and high energy club dancing anymore!” Suddenly, we can no longer bounce back from a morning hangover with a heavy breakfast and a few extra strength Tylenols. The birthday girl herself said “It takes me 2 days now to recover from a night of drinking and dancing.”
Once in a while it still happens, but overall, I can’t party and drink like I used to. The mere thought of a shot makes my stomach turn. The highlight of the night is getting dolled up to Britney music, slipping a sip of wine in between applying strokes of eyeliner. And then… I’m tired! W…T…F.
Age... Suddenly, I have to go to bed early. Suddenly, cosmetics professionals are recommending anti-aging moisturizers. Suddenly, my dentist is warning me of root canals and enamel damage. Suddenly, wearing 4-inch stilettos for 6 hours really hurts my feet.
My dad always joked that when I turned 25, my brain would “mature” and I would no longer do the hard partying thing. I will never admit he was right… I can still work a room! But, given that so many of my friends are experiencing this around the same time, he might… be on to something?
