Legally changing your age idea is lit!

Emile Ratelband has a great idea. Bad reasons, but great idea.

Ratelband, as you undoubtedly know, is a 69-year-old Dutchman who went to court recently to have his birth date changed.

That's right.

Ratelband says that if you can legally change your name or gender, you should be able to change your birthdate.

He wants to be 49. He wants the court to make his official birth date two decades later than when he was born.

His motivation, though, is suspicious. Ratelband hopes that being 49 will help him on dating websites, where he believes his senior status works against him. He describes himself as a "young god" who feels 20 or 25 years younger than he is.

I certainly don't have much interest in dating websites, but sometimes I feel 20 or 25 years younger than I am. Or maybe 30 (to be fair, it's usually because I'm being immature and I feel like I'm 12. Which is more than 40 years younger, now that I think about it).

There are advantages to being young. If I were 30 years younger, I'd be between my two sons, which would be lit, as those of us born in 1992 like to say.

Many of us remember our late 20s as prime years, when we had the energy of youth, but a little wisdom.

I also remember being exhausted all the time, with a baby boy at home and another one coming. But if were 26 now? I'd be on fleek, as millennials say.

If I succeed in resetting my birth date 30 years later, think of the advantages:

Umm . . . well, I guess my knowledge of 1970s music could make me a real hipster. Of course there's no way I'd grow a long beard or drink weird coffee, but still . . . imagine a guy in his 20s who sings along with Eagles music! Just don't ask me about post-1990 pop culture.

Still. That would be great. If I were declared 30 years younger, I would wake up every day, look at my driver's license, see that I'm 26 and  my world would be different.

I would have more energy. My bae (popularly known as Mrs. Brad) would also, in this scenario, be 30 years younger, so we would be adulting together, as 26-year-olds say.

Think of what we could do: Pay bills . . .  worry about the future . . . be tired . . . wonder if we knew what we were doing as parents and employees . . . still be exhausted and not be able to get enough rest . . . wonder how we could afford things if our car broke down . . .

Wait.

One.

Minute.

The more I think about it, maybe Emile Ratelband is crazy.

The idea of being younger seems great, but the truth of what it's like to be younger – at least to be a young adult trying to figure out how to navigate life – isn't simple. I wouldn't trade my experience for anything, but I don't want to go back.

I've changed my mind.

I don't want to be 30 years younger. Let my sons and their generation live that. I'll live my life, enjoy being my age and criticize their generation for not being perfect.

Meanwhile, I still get to do many of the things I did three decades ago: Worry about my kids, think things cost too much, wonder why I still get zits.

It's what people born in 1992 say: The struggle is real.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.