Apres Trente

Ah 30, that big looming number. I remember when 30 seemed really old. Like, people that were 30 were real adults that had things I could not be anywhere near attaining (careers, consistent bed times, spouses). And then I was 25 and 30 was what a lot of my friends were or were close to being, and then another year or so passed and my friends were in their 40s and 50s. And now, at the ripe old age of 28 and three quarters, I even have people I call my friends that are in their 30s and 40s and 50s and 60s and 70s, I even have a friend in her 80s. Really, I do. And I love them. I love to listen to what their lives were like at my age, and how they view things that I love (Facebook, volunteering, children, celebrity gossip). They really, truly awe me and I find myself thinking about what I will be like when I am their age.
Take, for instance, my friend Sister Mary Catherine of the Sisters of St. Joseph. The other night I got together with some of the women that I participated in a Community Dialogue with and we watched this awesome movie called Holding Ground about the community organizing and policy rebirth of Dudley Square. Afterward we discussed the film and our reactions and to listen to Sister talk about living through that era, and being a nun in rural Alabama and being a teacher during the Boston bussing situation just had me speechless (no, really, I actually stopped talking). This woman, who has lived such a long life and seen so much sadness and change is sitting here with people less than a third her age, hanging out, eating lentil soup and participating in a discussion with us. Seriously, I just love her and I loved being there thinking, that woman, she is my friend. She is more than 30, by at least 40 years, and she is awesome. I really hope that I am that awesome when I am her age.
So, as my 29th birthday approaches, I have been thinking a lot about what I want to accomplish before I am 30, but also everything I have accomplished and can check off. So far I have:

• Graduated high school, college and graduate school and hold two master's degrees
• Traveled Europe all my myself
• Lived alone for a year and a half
• Been single for two whole years straight
• Found and married the love of my life/best friend/hottest man ever
• Started a career, made some changes, and found the organization that I really want to stick with
• Started a 401k at said organization
• Spent over 300 hours volunteering my time to make the world a better place
• Made new friends, lost friends and kept friends who I love more than words

Pretty impressive, no? I think I have done pretty good with the first third of my life thus far, but there are a few things I want to add to this list before I turn 30:

• Give birth to a healthy baby with my wonderful husband by my side
• Launch my big secret project that I have been alluding to here for a few months (sorry, it is still a secret to non-essential personnel)
• Do a keg stand (never done one!)
• Travel out of the country with my husband, and to somewhere not in Western Europe solo or with him (Ghana is on the horizon thanks to my friend Kate's upcoming move there)
• Keep working towards the Presidential Service Award (4,000 hours in a lifetime, I can do this!)
• Need a filling (okay, I was really trying to avoid this for my whole life, but apparently my dentist had other plans, ugh)
  

Yeah, I think this about sums it up. Of course there are other goals I would like to meet, but those can wait until I am 40...not that I am ever going to be that old. Heehee.

XoXo