Age or Stage?

Lately people in my life keep reminding me of how old I am.

My husband keeps teasing me about my 40th birthday, which mind you, will not take place until the year 2013.  And oh, it will be a celebration because I do like parties!  And in case you don't know Jimm is 3 years younger than me, so he feels entitled to make fun.

My dad keeps bringing up the fact that I will be 40 in a couple of years.  And in turn I just casually remind him that in turn this also means he's OLD enough to have a 40 year old daughter. :-)

But mainly I have been reminded of my age by my close friends.  Not rudely (well, sometimes it's rude), just for fun.  Because in the majority of the social circles that I am now spending time in, I am one of the oldest if not the oldest most of the time. 

And it got me thinking....why is this?  Do you hang out with people who are the same age as you or at the same STAGE (of life) as you?

I think it's stage.  At least 98% of the time. 

I am mainly hanging around friends who have the same age kids as we do.  Or they are starting families.  Or they have older kids, but are still younger than me (and that's always weird for me to wrap my brain around...).  Or we go to church together and have connected through small groups.

Don't get me wrong.  I still have friends who are my exact age and I also have friends who are single, married with no children or who are older than me. 

But the good majority of my friends are a few years younger than me and are in the same stage  of life.  We relate well to one another and our cute kid stories.  We enjoy a good girls night out tasting wine, or we enjoy group date nights without the kids.  Most of all we like to laugh together, make fun of one another lovingly and encourage and support one another through difficult times.  We struggle with balancing all of our responsibilities, jobs, relationships and roles.  We give advice to one another when someone is down or stressed out about planning an event.  We still giggle over stupid sexual innuendos and jokes that were funny back in junior high and help play jokes on our unsuspecting friends.  We check in with each other when we know times are tough and plan social events months in advance.  We make up words and secret codes like we're 13 and a "sisterhood of the traveling pants".  We have careers that demand a certain level of professionalism and intelligence yet when we gather socially we revert to laughing at farting sounds.  We can pray, look up Bible verses and debate on political issues and then when it's getting too serious go saran wrap the toilet seat.  Ahhhh.....friends.

Another positive outcome to having friends in the same stage is that many times your children become friends.  What better way to ensure that your friendships will last a long time than having strong bonds begin to develop between the mini's?

Age doesn't always matter.  I always imagined I would end up marrying someone older than me.  I always imagined my friends would be the same age as me.  

But it's really about the stage, isn't it?  And that doesn't necessarily mean kids.  It just means where you are in life.