A Whole New Category.

Okay so I've been 30 now for little over a month. Nothing really new has transpired. I can't say that anything out of the ordinary has happened to remind me of my milestone birthday.

In the past month or so, I've been asked to state my age on two occasions (one cringing and one confidently), the latter was followed by an astonished 23 year old male (hot by the way), who gasped and informed me that he would have never guessed that I was 30.  How sweet. Wild thoughts ran through my head at alarming speed, and for a second I thought I may have kissed him passionately for his kind remark.  But gathering my witts, simply smiled and thanked him. 

Oh yes, and probably the most significant event was the survey I was required to fill out last week.  30 questions. As I responded questions 1 through 19 with ease, question 20 caught me off guard. There it was.  

20. What category does your age fall into? 

[ ] Under 18

[ ] 18- 24

[ ] 25-29

[ ]30-34

[ ] 35-49

[ ] 50 +

With a gulp, I checked the new category. A whole new category. 30-34. Wow. And there it was, the first time I officially had to put myself in a new age bracket.  I admit, I had a momentary (internal) freak-out. Why is it so damn  important for these surveys to know our age category anyway?