Getting Older

It was only a few short years ago when all I knew was having a great time and just living it up with friends. Now that philosophy still resides with me but it is not as prevailing as some of the other thoughts in my head. I think I've been building up this over the past couple of months but didn't realize it until talking to a friend at work. On a side note, I think most of my realizations come as I'm talking to friends. Anyway, this is a friend of mine who I don't often see so when we do work together, I catch him up on all the happenings over the past 4 or 5 months. After I finished with all of my stories, he told me that I was different. I was different than how he remembered me only from back in December. He said I was calmer and more at ease. Also, I wasn't as crude. Always a plus.
To summarize the lengthy stories I told him, I was looking to essentially settle down with things and stop the craziness. I'm totally down for having more seriousness in my life. I'm ready to be on my own and do my own thing. I feel like I've exhausted this part of my life and am ready to take the step full force.
Two nights later I was enjoying a drink with Jimmy, my new boss, and I was asking him about his current girlfriend. He was telling me how he's in flux between that bachelor stage and the settling stage. He wants to settle down because he loves his girlfriend but he also enjoys the bachelor times with his old crew from Belmar. He's not sure what he wants right now. Then he asked me what I'm looking for. I told him I'm down for the seriousness. My friends will always be there and we always have good times, but we can't do those crazy things forever.
Now anyone who knows my close friends, knows that they can make for wild times. The stories of those times are still hilarious and I will never forget, but getting into new ones do not have the same appeal that they once did. I feel like I've gotten all that out of my system. It's funny that I write this now because my closest friend Anthony always said that I would be the first to settle down and I always joked back that it wouldn't happen. Right now I think he's right. I'm not nearly close to settling down but I'm certainly the first one showing the signs of being in that stage.
This is definitely an interesting point in life and I'm anxious to see where it goes.