Yeah, it's just a function of the fact that when you're 20, you imagine yourself at 40 and can't fathom it. I felt the same way. Then it goes by (frighteningly) quickly, and you realize all those people you thought were so "old" when you were 20 and looked at a 40-year-old ... really weren't nearly as ancient as you thought they were. If anything, the opposite effect happens sometimes: I remember being 20, 25, and thinking I was so grown up and knew everything, and now when I see an early-20s-year-old, I'm like, damn, you're basically still just a kid . When I was 34, my girlfriend for a year was 23. It mostly wasn't an issue, she was great, but there were more than a few times when dealing with her on certain things made me think, I am literally dating a teenager