When I Grow Up

 

I am writing this from my bedroom at my parents'. It is not my childhood bedroom as my parents moved into this house the summer I graduated from high school and moved to Vienna, but there are quite a few childhood memories around of course. Exactly in one month I will turn 54 (?!?) and yet I seriously often catch myself being impressed by other people doing "grown-up" things, in particular people in their twenties or thirties around me. Our most recent intern at the office (25) bought a house together with her fiancé, an age when I had not even finished studying and would definitely not have considered purchasing a property/getting a loan to do so. 

Whenever I am in my flat in Vienna, where there's a lot of...stuff...cough...I resolve to do a massive decluttering and clear-out "very soon", gradually realising that it's easy to miss the sweet spot when you're motivated and capable of doing so. Having bought a house with everything in it from the previous owner and seeing my mother clearing out Dad's (who was extremely organised and not a hoarder) stuff definitely has been a wake-up call in this regard. It's unreal how much the average financially comfortable person accumulates over the years and it's rare to find someone that really appreciates it all when they are gone.