My Running Tab

grog (grog) noun

1. An alcoholic drink, especially rum diluted with water.

2. Any strong alcoholic drink.

At 27, life turns more backwards than ever. Your college days merge with your high school days merge with portraits of your best friends in junior high merge with when you used to slide down snow covered hills in your dad's backyard and how that old trailer doubled as a hideout for superheroes whose powers relied solely on a steady supply of Mentos. Suddenly, each memory spits out like a vending machine full of fortune cookies (no quarters needed).

You start to recognize dreams at 27--the ones you still pet, the ones you shelved--and all your loves and your loves lost. Tears, adventure, pain, desire, romance, the whole human spectrum of emotions in sepia-toned nostalgia. Running lists of laughter fueled by friendship and alcohol and general celebration.

Last night I asked, "When does life become about how much someone is willing to pay you to do something?", and that's exactly the kind of question you ask at 27. The kind that wonders how you got to 27 like this. Covered in cookie crumbs.