What it will be like

Since I turned 23 for the fifth time, I have come to think a lot about what it will be like. What it will all be like. In the future, tomorrow even. What will it be like when I finally turn my real age (which, fyi, I have decided will be next year in Barranquilla. Stay tuned to learn what that "real age" is!), what will it be like when I turn 30 or 40 or 50... if I ever turn 30 or 40 or 50.

So far, I've come up with this:

I will be a tea-person. Not an Earl Grey sort of person, not a Darjeeling sort of person, never ever a Cinnamon spice type of person. But a tea-person nonetheless: peppermint, apple, cherry, wild fruits, but maybe not a mango-tea sort of person. I will be a tea-person, having one for every occasion, before I sleep, when I awake, when I face writer's-block (which is more often than I am willing to publicly admit), when I am stressed (which, thanks to my new life, is, like, never), and when I need to lose weight - which, if a woman is truly honest, will admit that it is every single say of her life. I will be a naked-tea-person, drinking my tea "naked", that is, no lemon, no milk, no sugar. Depending on the company, I may or may not be clothed. I will be a funny-tea-mug-person, and I will refuse to drink tea in old, grandma, expensive, embedded with gold, kinda cups. I want funny, cute or crazy mugs. And they shall be big. And I will be a hot-tea-person. Not sure if I will ever get into the whole Nestea deal or not...

I will be healthy. I mean, I will not be obese, but I will never, ever be skinny. I will always stay within my allowed BMI or whatever, and I will try my very best to not buy clothes that are too big or too loose, because then I will become "comfortable" and I will not be the healthy person I claim I will be. I will be healthy, because it seems as though I am unable to lose weight. And since I am OK with where I am today, I think this is what it will be like.

I will be a Ph.D.-holder. I will be. I promise. And although in my younger years (even today), I have sworn that when I get my Doctor Title I will tattoo it to my forehead to let everyone know what the proper way to address me is (Frau Professor Doctor Natalya Delgado Chegwin, fyi), I think I will have reached a point in my life when it will no longer be necessary to have that long, exclusive title. I think that by the time I get there, I will be happy to have people call me Nat. Or Nattie. Never, ever Nata.

I will be pleased with my life, and with myself. But I will continue to dye my hair. I will be a red-head, a blonde, a very dark brunette... I will be crazy with my hair because it will grow again - until it doesn't anymore. And then I will have learned my lesson. I wonder if I will then be a wig person. But as far as hair goes, I think I really don't have to worry about what it will be like. I know what it will be like. And one day, when I wake up and stare at myself in the bathroom mirror (which is made for Germans, so even if I am standing on my tippy-toes, I can only see my forehead!) I will have the same reaction I had yesterday:

"Oh, crap. I have a gray hair."

Oh, crap. Yup. That is what it will be like.