BECAUSE I SAID SO

39 IS THE NEW 25

WRITTEN BY JULIE BURTON / PHOTO BY JAMI BOWMAN

I feel like I’m 25 years old. I said feel like, not look like. And I don’t mean physically feel like either. I’m pushing 40 this year. My legs are tingly because I’ve been sitting on the couch too long writing this. My face is starting to show how much I’ve laughed over the years.

I feel mentally 25. I bought a car. It’s not a new car, but it’s a new-to-me car. I know “Now you have a car payment” isn’t exactly something to get excited about. But I am excited about it. It’s my car.

I went from cars gifted to me by my parents right into 15 years of (the always humiliating) “college degree, homemaker, income zero” on credit reports.

I found a car I liked. I saved up money to put down. I found out that buying a car titled in Missouri and moving it to Kansas involves a 7 a.m. inspection at the Kansas Highway Patrol’s office while wearing pajamas and sporting rat’s nest hair (because that is way too early to have a car inspected).

I found car insurance and patted myself on the back for being a good driver. I made an appointment at the DMV and paid dirty old Uncle Sam. (I called him much worse, but my editor would red mark those words right out of this column.)

Most people spend their 20s making terrible mistakes, but they’re learning how to navigate a world on their own. They find entry-level jobs and get good at shopping generic brands. They look at babies and think They’re so cute! but also NOPE! They take Sunday naps because they can.

I take Sunday naps because I’m tired, I’m divorced, I have teenagers, and I’m pushing 40.

I didn’t spend my 20s like most people. I had babies young and married even younger. We weren’t even allowed to rent a car on our honeymoon because we were too young to be insured.

We bought a house. A few houses, actually. We bought cars. We did all this before turning 35. It was a lot of responsibility at a young age, but for me it was always with the safety net of someone else’s income.

I’m experiencing the best of what might have been in my 20s. I’m living on my own, dating, starting a career from nothing, and have three-day hangovers from tequila because I can’t trick my body into being 25 no matter how young I feel.

I felt good leaving the DMV—as good as you can feel after you curse out Uncle Sam. I officially have my own car with my own Kansas license plate at 39. But I feel 25!

Julie Burton is an Overland Park mom, writer, K-State lover, and bacon-hater. She is a blogger and contributing author to the humor book, But Did You Die?: Setting the Parenting Bar Low. Burton’s also been named one of the Today Show’s “funniest parents.” And yes, she really does hate bacon. Please don’t drop her as a friend.

Follow Julie at: julieburton.blog facebook.com/julieburtonwriter • twitter.com/ksujulie • instagram.com/ksujulie

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