As classes wrap up this week, followed by ten days of final
exams, I catch myself reflecting on moments of humour and contemplation during
the year when my age was obvious. It sometimes felt like a game of “one of
these things is not like the other.” I felt old in class when…
1 …professors would frame the Mulroney Years (1984 to 1993) for
students as a time long, long ago. I remember them well.
2 …it became clear I was among a handful in the class that
meets Senate age eligibility (30+)
3 …jokes by profs about how our grandparents would react to
our newfound legal thinking over Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner that didn’t
make me laugh as much as my classmates. In those moments, I missed my now
deceased Nana, Buppy, Grama and Grampa.
4. …I noticed classmates stealthily darting between social
media sites and messenger apps on their laptops during gaps in a lecture,
always of at least often with a sixth sense of when the professor says
something relevant, then returning to their word doc to capture the idea. (I
felt even older when visiting Facebook myself during lecture and then,
transfixed on the content, surfacing moments later and wondering what the hell
I’d missed that everyone was busy typing down; clearly I’m not as skilled a multi-tasker!)
5 …when professors patronizingly talk about expectations and
standards “in the real world.” Having worked in “the real world” for the better
part of a decade, it often took great willpower to keep from rolling my eyes.
6 …I routinely forgot that all our course materials are online
through a secure portal. This online feature was not available in my first two
undergrads. The ultimate in convenience!
7 …a professor, lecturing on liability in rental car
agreements, asked if anyone in the room had rented a car before and five out of
forty five hands were raised. WHAT!? Most of these kids haven’t rented a car
before!?
8 ...a professor talks about the 70s then says we’re all too
young to know about the 70s and my saucy classmate, Amber, seated in the front
row, cranks her head around, makes eye contact with me and laughs. Busted.
