Happy Birthday

Today is my birthday.

 Right about now, I am probably lying on the beach after one too many cocktails getting ever-more singed by the second.

 24.

That's what it does to you.

I don't know why this birthday seems so significant.

 More so than any other birthday I've ever had.

 16, 18, 21- they're all milestones...so why does 24 seem so impressive?

Well, I think it's probably that, to me, it signifies proper adulthood.

I really am not a kid anymore *damn* and I can't pretend to be...Can I? Seriously, can I? Please? 

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We're living in an odd time.

The age of the internet (and airbrushing) has changed everything.

 Young girls aren't so innocent anymore.

I've lost count of the amount of photos I've seen on facebook of 13 and 14-year-old girls posing in a full face of make up.

 And not much else.

We want to grow up quicker- and yet we're in a constant battle with age.

Celebrities who've got a bit of 'pillow face' are ridiculed.

But then those who let the inevitable take hold and show a few wrinkles are 'a mess'.

I don't know any of my 20-something friends who hasn't started using an anti-ageing regime.

 Well, maybe one. But she's an outdoorsy type with good skin.

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At 24, my mum was married, owned a house and had a baby (me) on the way.

I am not- in any way, shape or form- ready for that.

But I just find it so...interesting(I guess that's the word) that in the 24 years I've been on the planet, the picture for 24 year-olds has changed so much.

 I am glad, though.

Yes, we've got no money. Yes, we're struggling under debt and statistically we're the first generation to have it so bad as they did after the Blitz.

But we've been taught by our mothers- the women who had us when they were 24- that we can achieve anything we put our minds to.

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 ...So where does a 24-year-old girl-woman start?

Well, for now, I'm channeling Carrie Bradshaw.

Carrie Bradshaw is still running around in heels and referring to herself as a 'gal' at 40.

 And Carrie Bradshaw arrived in New York at 24.

So maybe this year, it will be the year of my arrival.

 Just as soon as I sober up and find some aftersun.....