Reflections

By the time you all read this, it'll be my birthday! Hooray!

While my birthday buddies Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin are enjoying the big 2-0-0, I'm embracing the kinda ho-hum, boring age of 34. Goodbye Jesus Year, I failed at starting a new world religion. Hello, 34, most notable for being... twice the age of 17??? Yikes.

But, I love being in my now, ahem, mid-30's. I was explaining this to someone tonight, someone who has the benefit of a few more decades of perspective, and he totally agreed with me. I wouldn't go back to my 20's for anything. Sure, I had a lot of fun and felt a little more free and casual with a lot less stress back then, but... I feel like in my 30's, I and so many of my friends have just gained so much. Confidence, experience, respect, knowledge.

I'm so much more secure in who I am, and what I want, and what I believe in, and what I need from myself and others, and where I want to go in life *now* than I was 5 or, egad, 10 years ago. I've learned what is important for me to fight for, and what I can shrug off. I've learned what really pushes my buttons, and what I can live with easily. I can recognize the things I'm really good at, and the times when I should defer to others and ask for help. I've found ways to keep myself interested and entertained, and ways to (as we'd say on the farm) separate the wheat from the chaff and focus on what's really important.

I've learned how to value and make time for family, and how to express to them what I need in return. I've stopped worrying so much about what "other people" think, and instead focus more on the important people in my life. I've learned how to "embrace my inner dork" and wear it with pride.

I know there's a whole lot more still to learn in life, and I'm looking forward to all kinds of new experience in the rest of my 30's -- and, you know, someday hopefully going through the new experiences of having a great relationship and starting a family. So - other than 34 being a kinda boring number in and of itself - I'm just happy to be starting another new year with a great family and friends, with a job that I love and an apartment that makes me happy, with trusty cat Cleo by my side and more adventures to come here in our nation's capital.

Yay!



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