On Turning Thirty

According to my birth certificate, I turned thirty yesterday.

I was lucky enough to spend the entire day with Aaron. We ate good meals. We visited with friends. I smiled a lot. All in all, a good day.

I did not sprout new gray hairs. I did not instantly gain crow's feet. I did not burst into flames. But I feel sad, yet resigned, in saying goodbye to being a twenty-something.

At the same time, however, I feel like I did some good things with the past decade of my life.

I started it with my first international travel experience, studying abroad in Rome (when you grow up in Michigan, Canada doesn't count as international), and ended the decade with an even bigger adventure that still seems inconceivable. I thought I would travel a lot more, but I'm still incredibly fortunate that I was able to visit places I had been imagining for years.

During my twenties, spent a lot of time in classrooms, on both sides of the desk. Who knows how many hours I spent reading, writing, arguing, teaching, and learning? The most important thing I've learned is that there is always so much more to learn, which is a very exciting prospect. There's no excuse to be bored. I may not have been a Jeopardy contestant, but I'm pretty good at crossword puzzles and trivia questions because I've loaded my brain with endless facts.

The best part of my twenties was figuring out how to let someone else be part of my life. I also had to learn to accept that it means he's in all of it. Aaron's been a good sport, to say the least. He was nice enough to marry me, and I was just smart enough to let him. 

I was very kind to my liver. Apparently, that's rare.

I don't know what being a thirty-something is going to look like, but I have a sneaking suspicion I will have to be much more responsible. I'm hoping that if I dress more like an adult, it will never involve pantsuits. There will probably be children, and I'm okay with that. There will probably be a dog, too, if Aaron gets his way. I know we'll move at least one more time (because we're not staying in southern Illinois forever). Hopefully, there will be real jobs (with real pay) in our futures, too.

But I know this: even though I keep getting older, that doesn't really mean I'm going to grow up. If I did, I might lose the best parts of being me.