At work recently, I was doing my own thing and only vaguely listening to the conversation between several of my young coworkers. They were discussing one or more of their previous experiences on the high school track team, specifically the colleges that some of their former teammates had gone on to receive track scholarships to attend. I wasn't paying much attention to what they were saying, truthfully, until I heard this:

"What about Jen? Didn't she get a full scholarship to /Prestigious University/?"

My ears perked up.

"Are you taking about Jenny /Lastname/?" I asked.

I had clearly surprised the girls, both with my interjection and by my knowledge of the young woman about whom they were speaking.

"Yes! Why, do you know her?" one of the girls asked.

"I used to babysit her," I replied with a small smile, to which I was met with laughter and a chorus of "Oh my god, that's amazing!"s.

And it kind of WAS amazing. This girl, who I used to help with homework and put to bed at 8 pm, who I used to regularly have to stop from eating Play-Doh, is now (I believe) either a sophomore or junior in college.

I'm only in my mid-20s, so there aren't many things yet for me that make me feel old, but that moment kind of did. That same girl has a younger sibling in college and a third graduating from high school soon. I remember when the youngest was born. I remember watching them collect caterpillars and learn to ride bikes and attending all of their first communions and their birthdays every year. I remember being told, "We talked and we've decided that you're our second-favorite babysitter ever, after Aunt T." What an honor!

My oldest cousin just turned 7. I remember when she was born, and it doesn't feel like it was 7 years ago. Now she's a tallish person who can carry out extended conversations and has opinions and looks like her dad (I tend to think that babies and little kids just look squishy).

I think we all have moments once in awhile where we marvel at how skewed your sense of time can get. I basically still think that it was just 2008 last week. I don't feel like someone who's old enough to be having a quarter-life crisis, and yet here I am. I had to discuss a past surgery with a doctor recently, and when he asked me how long ago that was - it was in 2004, over a decade ago, and thinking about it in that way really made me bug my eyes out for a second. It feels like it was just a couple of years ago.

Basically, being an adult is just strange and wonderful, and I don't think I'll ever feel like an adult, even despite these sorts of moments and their increasing frequency.