More Stuff and Nonsense

Turning 30...

Okay, so on the way home tonight, talking with my mom, I realized that in a week and a half, I'll turn 30. Now, I'm not stressing about this. Honestly, the birthday itself doesn't seem any more or less meaningful than my last birthday, or the several before that.

But somehow, realizing I'm reached the milestone of 30 is unsettling. Not the turning 30, not the realizing my 20s are behind me, none of that. It's realizing I've been alive for 30 years, and thinking about all I've lived through, all I'd experienced. In my lifetime, I've seen the dawn of Star Wars, the end of the Cold War. I've seen the space shuttle explode twice, the fall of the Berlin Wall. I wept in front of CNN as we went to war in Iraq the first time, and asked my mom "Why?" I wept even harder on 9/11. I got angry when we went to war in Afghanistan, and when we went into Iraq the second time. I cried when my cousin was deployed to Iraq.

I've graduated from high school, graduated from college. I've lived in 7 states, 18 different towns. I attended one kindergarten, 4 elementary schools, 2 high schools, 5 institutes of higher learning (not counting Oxford). I've travelled to Canada, and to Europe. I've absorbed history through my butt, while drinking a pint in Oxford, seen Stonehenge, touched the stones of Avebury and decided Paris is not for me.

I've made friends, lost friends, kept friends, rediscovered friends. I was diagnosed with lupus, and still graduated from high school and college. I bought my truck, moved myself to Minnesota and Colorado, with help from my folks.

When I look back, I find myself thinking, wow, so much in 30 years. And yet, there's so much more I want to do.

So, for all of you who've been with me through the first 30 years, thanks for being there. In many places, I couldn't have done it without you. Here's the next 30 years, and more.

posted by Serena @ 4:52 PM