Birthday Thoughts

Damn, my 20s were pretty good.

I got a bachelor’s degree – and a master’s degree. I had a career in marketing, and then was able to reenergize myself by switching careers. I lived in Duluth, by the shining Big-Sea-Water, where beauty and peace reigned. And I then moved to Minneapolis, lived in Uptown near the lakes, a land of history and character and charm and energy. As an urbanite, I spent a lot of time learning about the great stores and restaurants, navigating through traffic, socializing with friends, staying out late, and having tons of fun. I lived with Erika and learned the many nuances of the term “roommate.” In dating and jobs and the “grey everyday,” I went through many trials and had to learn a lot of life lessons along the way. And finally, I met the man of my dreams. And got engaged.

On a day-by-day basis, my 20s were tough. Often living paycheck to paycheck, unsure about my future, having to make a lot of tough decisions about where my life was going. Living through the quarter-life crisis. Frustrated about not having “more” … right now. In the path to discovering myself (or rediscovering, since it turned out I simply had to go back to who I was even as a child), I felt ungrounded, uprooted, lost. But now, as I turn 30, I can look back in awe at what I accomplished and the life I have had. In that time I made amazing friends, did so many things, became more outgoing, more confident, a little wiser, and in the end, much happier.

I wouldn’t want to live through it again but I will say good-bye to the years fondly and with sadness … and then look forward to the beginning of a new decade, with a new marriage and new career, and new adventures ahead.