{"id":176,"date":"2015-11-06T18:26:53","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T18:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coffeesandcigarettes.com\/?p=176"},"modified":"2015-11-09T23:31:53","modified_gmt":"2015-11-09T23:31:53","slug":"26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeesandcigarettes.com\/?p=176","title":{"rendered":"26."},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m sitting on the rooftop of my college house on Atwood Street; it\u2019s a brisk night in early March. It\u2019s been a rough day, so I lay back and ponder, letting the Slightly Stoopid playing from my laptop intervene. I\u2019m a sophomore, but I\u2019m behind in credits. I\u2019ve failed business calculus twice already and I\u2019m sporting a rather unimpressive GPA. I\u2019m nervous. I\u2019m frustrated. I\u2019m depressed. Time\u2019s running out. The real world is right on the horizon. I have to grow up, don\u2019t I? What the actual fuck<\/em> am I going to do with my life? So I ponder more, hoping some examples of others\u2019 path in life will calm the anxiety.<\/p>\n

Meet Rob Gronkowski\u2014the New England Patriots\u2019 iconic, star tight end. He\u2019s 6\u20196 inches tall with crew cut brown hair and 265 pounds of the kind of muscle that makes you feel bad about yourself. Wearing number 87, he\u2019s so ripped up, at first glance it appears he might not even be wearing shoulder pads under his jersey. The endearingly nicknamed \u201cGronk\u201d signed a contract in 2012 for fifty-four million dollars. Yeah, I know. That\u2019s fifty-four million McChickens. The full time athlete, part time party boy is on every frat boy\u2019s twitter timeline, every sorority girl\u2019s instagram feed, and every pop warner footballer\u2019s bedroom wall. He\u2019s 26.<\/p>\n

Twenty-six? Only twenty-six? That\u2019s almost a full decade before I\u2019m even eligible to run for president. That\u2019s only one year after I can legally rent a car alone. That\u2019s only one year until Kurt Cobain and the rest of the \u201927 Club\u2019 \u201cburn out instead of fade away.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, what does it mean to be twenty-six? Should I be married by then? Should I have a career? Should I have a house? Is it an age? Is it an obligation?<\/p>\n

How long even is 26 years?<\/p>\n

26 years ago Duran Duran was on the radio and Dead Poet\u2019s Society was in theatres. 26 years ago gas per gallon was three cents short of a dollar. 26 years ago was the first release of Microsoft office and George Bush Sr. was in the white house. Holy fuck, thank god it isn\u2019t 26 years ago. But I digress.<\/p>\n

But what does it mean<\/em> to be 26?<\/p>\n

Well, it means you\u2019re one year older than a quarter century, but you\u2019re not quite a prime number yet. It means you\u2019ve been legally drinking for five years, voting for eight, and you\u2019re four years away from a mental breakdown. Shit, I\u2019ve got a lot to get done by the time I\u2019m 26.<\/p>\n

Gronk\u2019s mega-success with money, athletics, fame and women really isn\u2019t calming my nerves. If anything, it\u2019s made them worse. So, who else is 26?<\/p>\n

Just one month shy of the big 2-6 is America\u2019s sweetheart. With gorgeous, mysterious eyes and blonde hair, supplying the soundtrack for anyone from teenage girls in their bedrooms to grown men stuck in traffic\u2014the one and only, Taylor Swift. Named in Forbes Magazine\u2019s \u2018100 Most Powerful Women,\u2019 worth more than 200 million dollars(200 million McChickens), and so famous she took her music off Spotify, she\u2019s doing everything right. The epitome of the American Dream. A young, central Pennsylvania girl, worked hard and it paid off. She\u2019s rich and famous now. In one month, she\u2019s 26.<\/p>\n

So then what does it mean<\/em> to be twenty-six? Should I have a nice car and an expensive wardrobe? Should I have it all figured out? Should I be rich? Should I be famous?<\/p>\n

Our culture has rules for this kind of stuff, right? There must be an instruction manual on the correct way to assemble the pieces of your life. You know, like a six-drawer dresser from Ikea. So, the people around us, like mom, dad, and really any random bystander in our life expect a lot to happen by 26, right? Rich, famous, on Wall Street, Silicon Valley, in graduate school. Whatever it may be, it seems it is important that it does one thing\u2014make money. Stretching outside the norm is a risk. I only have one life, no do-overs, so if I do everything just right the first time, I\u2019ll be rich by 26. I\u2019ll have that car, the four-bedroom colonial and a bearable nine to five. Playing it safe is the key to happiness. After all, dreams are dreams for a reason, right? Pursuing them is a waste of time and money.<\/p>\n

So while Gronk and Swift followed their dreams and didn\u2019t take the easy road, that\u2019s not what\u2019s glorified. That\u2019s not what\u2019s idolized. What we care about is how much money they make each year and how famous they are. How much their autograph is worth and what magazine they are on the cover of.<\/p>\n

Is that what it means to be 26? Or can it be done differently?<\/p>\n

Meet Geoff Vanover. From the suburbs of Philadelphia he was raised catholic, went to private school and received a full college scholarship. He was on the perfect path to be \u201c26.\u201d More than grateful for his opportunity growing up, but labeling the environment as \u201cpoisonous\u201d, things are different for Vanover. He\u2019s always wanted to be a musician. From a young age he\u2019s written riffs and lyrics. Now he lives in South Philadelphia where he is a chimney sweep to pay his bills and a rapper to pay his soul. On his music career: \u201cI\u2019ve never gotten a check, never made a penny from it.\u201d Vanover has a certain aura of happiness. The kind of happiness of a three-year-old toddler that just discovered a slinky. It\u2019s genuine, no faking. He loves what he does. He can\u2019t buy as many McChickens, but, nonetheless, he is twenty-six.
\nNow this approach, this is the twenty-six years I might want to live.<\/p>\n

Geoff Vanover wakes up at 5:15 every morning. He wipes the last night\u2019s dreams from his eyes and puts his hair that hasn\u2019t been cut since September of 2013 up into a bun. He checks his perfectly groomed mustache in the mirror and places his thick-rimmed eighties style glasses on his face. Geoff leaves his South Philly apartment on Fourth Street and heads to Northeast Philly to pick up his work truck. He\u2019s back in South Philly by seven in the morning to sweep chimneys. The day ends when the jobs are complete. When he gets home, Vanover makes music\u2014any kind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the evening I could be jamming out writing raps, really any type of music I can get involved in\u2026even if I\u2019m just chillin\u2019 in the studio lending a baseline,\u201d said Vanover. Remember, like the others aforementioned, he too is twenty-six.<\/p>\n

I guess that seems all good and fun, but I should probably do what everyone else does right? Work hard and it\u2019ll pay off. I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m confused. I\u2019m stressed. I\u2019m worried. How much time do I have to make sure I\u2019m doing this \u201creal world\u201d thing the correct way.<\/p>\n

26 years is a while, so I have plenty of time to do things perfectly though, right? Well not exactly.<\/p>\n

26 years is less than one third of the average lifespan of humans today. 26 years is a mere one tenth of the amount of the time since John Hancock signed the declaration of independence. And 26 years is a tiny one fifth of the amount of time since Columbus sailed the ocean blue.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m supposed to be a fucking millionaire by then?<\/p>\n

By 26 medical school students make their first real pay check, law students are finally attorneys and the average woman is almost married. Oh yeah, and by 26, you can\u2019t ride your parents\u2019 health insurance plan any longer.<\/p>\n

So, what does it mean to be twenty-six? Scratch that. What should I have accomplished<\/em> by the time I\u2019m 26?<\/p>\n

Because, you see, my research is telling me being 26 is not an age. Being 26 is an obligation. An obligation to appease a culture. A culture that is flawed. A culture that encourages me to stimulate an economy with a stable career and capitalistic motives. A culture that says \u201cfuck your dreams, go make a paycheck.\u201d A culture that says you can\u2019t be an art major because it doesn\u2019t make any money. A culture that creates pre med pricks that condescendingly ask, \u201cwhat are you going to do with a media communications degree?\u201d A culture that says being in a band is merely a waste of your time getting in the way of your studying habits and work schedule. A culture that says college takes four years, any more and you\u2019re a fuck up. The same culture that preaches \u201clife, liberty and the pursuit of happiness<\/strong>.\u201d The same culture that considers itself \u201cone nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The same culture that preaches the American Dream. Well, the American Dream is a pyramid scheme. And I call bullshit on all of it.<\/p>\n

It seems by a certain age, I\u2019m expected to have and have done<\/em> certain things. It seems by a certain age, there are certain requirements. There\u2019s a rubric of sorts. A criteria that I am being graded on. If I don\u2019t have an A in these criteria by the time I\u2019m 26 I might as well associate myself with you know, the ones who didn\u2019t make it. The deadbeats. Or even worse, those without a college degree. It seems I should have \u2018accomplished\u2019 certain goals. I should be \u2018successful.\u2019 By 26, I should be thinking about a family, a mortgage payment, maybe even a vacation home.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re conditioned to believe that our world is like a ticking time bomb. If we don\u2019t act fast, we won\u2019t make it out alive. We idolize these people who get rich quick, or have it all figured out before they\u2019ve even turned three decades. And if they didn\u2019t do it the normal way, what matters is that they\u2019re making money. But, you know how it is, there\u2019s a certain way of doing things. A conventional <\/em>way of getting things done. You go to college, you get a degree in something practical and you can get a good job, start a family, gain twenty pounds and join a country club. You\u2019ll be miserable because you really wanted to be a writer, or a painter, or maybe even a trumpeter, but you\u2019re an accountant and god damnit that pays the bills.<\/p>\n

So before you close your browser because I\u2019m just another counterculture millennial with no sense of how the \u201creal world works,\u201d I want you to seriously ask yourself:<\/p>\n

What does it mean <\/em>to be twenty-six?<\/p>\n

To me, it means something a lot different than a safe job and a new Toyota Camry. It means following your dreams for 26 years and beyond, no matter the monetary reward. It means you have plenty of time. It means slow down. It means maybe in your 20s you might not have your shit together yet. Being twenty-six can\u2019t be defined by tech moguls and financial geniuses. Being twenty-six should be defined by people like Geoff Vanover and my own father.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 26, I was working for someone else, getting ready to launch my own business as a photographer. I wasn\u2019t sleeping much,\u201d my Dad said.<\/p>\n

Meet David Campli, my father. Photographer, husband, brother, son and dad. Some time in the 1970\u2019s he decided he wanted to capture family memories for a living. So he pursued the art. 40 years later he continues to perfect his craft.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad wanted me to stay at the Acme. \u2018You make good money as a cashier there,\u2019 he told to me when I wanted to go to art school.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a few months later, in the fall of this year. I\u2019ve changed majors several times at this point and, well the real world is even closer. Guess what, I still don\u2019t have my shit together. I\u2019m a junior, but I\u2019m behind in credits. I\u2019ve finally passed business calculus but my GPA would imply otherwise. I\u2019m nervous. I\u2019m frustrated. I\u2019m depressed. My thought is interrupted by a cold gust of wind and a tapping on the window from my roommate. He slides up the old window and it creaks. He carefully maneuvers his head out through the three by three space and asks,<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust thinking,\u201d I respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does it mean<\/em> to be twenty-six?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

He responds with a facetious laugh, \u201cdon\u2019t you have work to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when it hits me. I realize what I\u2019m going to do with my life. I\u2019m going to appease a culture. A culture that believes in pursuing whatever it is that supports me. And that\u2019s what supports me, existentially, not financially. I\u2019m going to do what makes me tick. I\u2019m going to write. And if takes me a while to get good at it, so be it. And if it takes even longer to earn a decent living from it, so be it.<\/p>\n

I realize in that moment that having your shit together is overrated. Because what do you really find out from having it all figured out? Because in the midst of chaos, in the midst of failure, in the midst of absolute uncertainty that\u2019s when you find yourself. So I put the anxiety on hold and I enjoy the view, because I realize now I have plenty of time.<\/p>\n

So, what does it mean to be 26? I ask myself. It means next year you\u2019ll be 27. But, the most important part isn\u2019t what you\u2019ve accomplished in those years, it\u2019s that those years have made you feel accomplished. So do what makes you tick, it just might take a little longer than 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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