Hanne

Birthdays and Burns: The Joys of Youth

I have really been enjoying being young lately. That may sound like a very odd thing to say, because I think mostly you don’t really think about that sort of thing. Hence the maxim ‘youth is wasted on the young’. But recent events have got me thinking, and quite appreciating what I have at the moment.

One such event is the imminence of my 21st birthday. 21 is supposed to be such a milestone, a turning point, a time when everything is cemented into place and you know exactly what you are doing and how you are going to do it. You have finished being 17 and dreamy but are not yet totally old and responsible. Well, I don’t quite feel ready to stop being dreamy yet, but given that I occasionally still get asked ID for R16 movies and my parents’ friends regularly ask ‘so when are you finishing high school?’ (I have just finished my degree ><) I think I should be able to get away with the odd fairy bread sandwich and swing in the park for a wee while yet.

The other event that amazed me was the healing powers of my body. Just under two weeks ago I managed to completely gumby moving my bike, roasting the inside of my calf on the pipe. Mmm, crackling… Thought it wasn’t too bad at first but adrenaline can make injuries seem rather deceiving. Upshot of this was that I had to keep it dressed for 10 days or so, take two days off work, and became very well acquainted with the local nurse. Apparently such burns have the technical name of ‘honeymoon scorching’ within medical circles, due to the prevalence of cases amongst young women returning from Rarotonga on their honeymoons. Unfortunately for me the work car park is not quite as exotic as a tropical island…

I am just amazed at how everything looks now, though. Ten days later, the skin has all but grown back and pain wise, there is nothing. You could see the difference every day when dressing it, and the transformation was like watching a flower bloom. I guess people don’t usually describe burns using that sort of imagery, but I am just amazed at the healing powers of the human body. And it heals from underneath too, like an onion that digs roots and then sprouts tall shoots to above ground. How does this link to youth? Well, the nurse (who, incidentally, described the wound as ‘beautiful’) reckons that had I been 50, the repairs that took a week would have taken a month.

So, I guess what I am saying is that I am quite glad that theoretically I have another 30 years up my sleeve in order to learn how to not be a gumby and how to avoid inflicting any such injuries on myself in the future. And despite nearly having reached the age of maturity, I am not going to complain if the bus driver only charges me the $1 a stage student fare as a result of my youthful looks!