Today, I am 30.
Most kids can't wait to grow up. When I was little, I used to cry on each birthday because I liked the age I was, and I didn't want to get older. I think I got it out of my system at a young age, because now, when most adults stop counting, I have no reservations about getting older. Life's great!
I loved my twenties. I spent my last summer job before college graduation working at Walt Disney World. At twenty-three, I moved across the country to a state where I knew not a soul, but it sure was an adventure. By twenty-five, I had two cats, a fabulous roommate, and was a manager in my own office. When I was twenty-seven, I became a homeowner and a dog person. At twenty-eight, I met a wonderful man. I got engaged at twenty-nine.
In my twenties, I've had four jobs (with the same company... sort of), and I've liked each of them just a little bit better than the last. I've met, worked with, and become friends with some really awesome people. I lost two grandparents, but I feel lucky to have had them as long as I did. And I feel even luckier to still have two wonderful grandparents into my thirties! My company was sold, which was a low point, career-wise, but I still have a job.
In my twenties, I traveled. I saw New York City. I went on a Caribbean cruise. I visited friends in Atlanta, Florida, and Alabama. I went to Washington, DC and drove across the country from Chicago to Los Angeles with a detour to the Grand Canyon. I visited Ottawa, Canada and Las Vegas and San Francisco. Palm Springs and Monterey Bay, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. I went to Hawaii and Ohio and to Comic Con in San Diego. I've spent every Christmas since moving to California in Chicago with my family, plus another trip or two home each year. I've had wonderful friends from Illinois and Canada and Florida and Finland all come visit me.
I loved my twenties.
But I'm even more excited for my thirties! At thirty, I'll marry Steve. I can't think of a better way to start a new chapter of my life! And after that, who knows? But I'm sure it'll be amazing.