The more things change, the more I feel pretty much the same

By Matt Miner

My brain doesn’t seem to be maturing as rapidly as my life experience.  It struck me that I don’t feel all that much older now than I did when I was seventeen or eighteen and beginning to function as an adult.  Here’s what brought this thought home.

This morning it snowed in Tucson, which is rare.  My wife, brother and I drove up into the mountains to play in the snow.  We threw snowballs at each other.  We built an Arizona snowman with shotgun shells for buttons and pistol casings for eyes.  Throwing snowballs and building a snowman felt like being a kid in Seattle on Christmas break.  Goofing around with Charity and Mark felt like being in high school or early college (Mrs. Miner and I met the first day of our senior year at Sabino High School in Tucson).  But my life really is rather different than it was ten years ago.

For example, My mom was watching my daughter back at The Jeremiah Inn, which is different.  I did not have a daughter when I was eighteen.  When the rear end of the 4Runner (a rugged mini van) broke loose on a tight curve, Mark reminded me that I was “driving for four” now, since Mrs. Miner is expecting our second kiddo.  He meant that I shouldn’t drive the truck over the edge of a cliff.  Back in the old days, when I drove a 1986 F-150, Mark would have been whooping and laughing, so he's changed too, though he'd probably tell you it's my fault.

Maybe I’m feeling this way because I’m “back home” in my old surroundings, hanging with my “girlfriend”, my brother and my parents.  Or maybe it is because even though people do change, they don’t usually change all that much.  I don’t know the answer, but I think it is an interesting phenomenon.  I wonder whether other people feel this way too?