Huh
My office's Press Secretary is leaving today. This is his last day at work before he goes off to greener pastures. At his office party, from whence I just returned, I learned that he's turning 27 next week. Do you know who else is turning 27 soon? Me. I'll be 27 in May.

Until today, I assumed that my coworker/pseudoboss was older than me. He had to be in his 30s, I'd assumed. I assumed this for one simple reason: He had authority over my position at work. People who have authority over me have always been older than me.

This is the basic definition of a cognitive dissonance. There's a difference between what my heart knows and what my head knows. In my head, I have no ridiculous barriers about age and position. It's not how old you are, it's what you can do, and (frequently) who you know. In my heart however, this is not the case. I know that age makes no difference, but I still ~feel~ that everyone 'above' me must be older.

As he declared his age over his early birthday-cupcakes, I came to a quiet and weird realization: Most of the people I work with are my age. I scanned the room, taking in the faces of the people I see every day, noting who's age I knew, and who's I could guess. Some of them are younger than me, my boss is older, my boss's boss is older, everyone else is basically my age.

I'm no longer working in an environment where everyone has an extra decade of experience. I'm not faking maturity to blend in, I'm as mature as these people, and they're my peers.

It's kinda strange.