If I’m a Kid, You’re a Fetus or Age is just a number. So is your cholesterol level. Numbers Kill.

Generational divides can seem gigantic. Mom and Dad, bless their hearts, have trouble with the “interwebs” while kids these days have abnormally large thumbs due to video game abuse. Old folks remember when cassettes were the newest thing while tiny tots have never heard of a walkman. Baby boomers think back on the first time they saw Snow White in theaters while young schoolchildren today were never exposed to the slaughter of Bambi’s parents. As a millennial, I bridge that gap. I remember when computer screens were in black and green and when digital cameras could hold TEN pictures! (Sorry Aurelia, we didn’t get any shots of your elementary school graduation. The camera was full of puppy pictures.) I can also, regrettably, identify Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez by sight and vocal range. I can kick it with grandpa’s and Bieber tweens alike, no problem.

Why is it then, spending time with people 2-6 years younger than me seems like a trek to Outer Mongolia? College kids, man. A glorious age so very different from any other. Still young enough to not have any real responsibilities or expectations except for not dropping out. Precious souls still unpunched by the brutal fist of reality. Old enough to buy cigarettes, vote, and other adult things. (Keeping it PG).

Bambi and Thumper enjoying some plants. Many college kids enjoy plants as well.

The reason it can be excruciatingly awkward and uncomfortable interacting with college kids is the underlying judgment on both sides. College kids think, “Why is she still hanging out with college kids? Why doesn’t she have a real job?” Millenials think, “Why am I still hanging out with college kids? All they do is get wasted and complain about classes. And why has no one heard of Bambi?” I look at their fresh, yet bleary eyed, faces and think “Enjoy scampering with your woodland friends. The world is a forest, and life is a hunter out for blood.” 

A warning to college students from Disney about life after college: "Bambi, your mother can't be with you anymore."