It's hard to believe my 20's are coming to an end this weekend. I have mixed feelings about letting them go - - as if I had a choice! While there are many things I would love to forget that happened in this past decade, there are so many more that I don't want to and won't ever, but hate removing myself from them ... it's as if the further I am away from that age of a memory, I forget it. Yet there's an excitement that I can taste for my 30's. So many people have said that the 30's are the most fun years and I'm going to hold everyone to that!
In reflecting back to these past ten years, here are 20 things that stick out:
1. Summer abroad in Madrid, Spain - which inevitably led to my travel itch and my love of Spain.
2. Graduating college, double major, in 4 years - it felt like a huge accomplishment.
3. Getting a job one month out of college at mtv - thanks to my internship!
4. Detaching myself from friends that I thought would always be a part of my life, but realized that sometimes you grow up and grow apart.
5. Realizing years later that #4 is ok and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. In realizing that, I got rid of a lot of guilt.
6. Making new acquaintances and realizing a few years later that it's not how many people you know, but the people you surround yourself with that really matters (even if that circle is 5 people round).
7. The birth of my two homeboys (nephews). It wasn't until they were born that I realized that love can take on a whole new meaning.
8. Seeing the place of my mother's birth in Italy. Something so surreal about that still to this day.
9. Buying an apartment when I was 25!
10. Living in Weston, Fl for 3.5 months after buying said apartment. But couldn't pass up an awesome job opportunity.
11. Being promoted to a supervisor at the age of 25, 2 years before I originally thought I would become one.
12. Losing one of my favorite people in the world and missing him dearly to this day. Maybe in my 30's I'll finally accept that death isn't necessarily the end...
13. Going through a year (age 27) of what felt like shedding my skin and growing a new one to become the person I am today.
14. Realizing that you do in fact "get over it" and that life doesn't end when someone you care about doesn't care about you anymore.
15. Traveling to the most amazing places: Alaska, Big Sur, Mexican Riviera, Italy, Austria, Spain, Morocco, Belize, Nicaragua, the Canary Islands, the Grand Canyon, Mt. Zion, Bryce Canyon, Seattle, St. Johns New Brunswick, Montreal, the South, the Florida Keys ... there are so many other places and I seriously can't believe how I've been so lucky to have gone to all of those places in less than ten years.
16. Learning that it's better to say what's on your mind then to let it eat away at you (even if it sometimes gets you in trouble and temporarily hurts someone else or makes you lose them).
17. Baking! As crazy as this sounds, I will probably associate food with my 20's. It's when I realized that I'm actually a pretty decent baker and have some amount of talent for that.
18. Becoming certified in reflexology and becoming so much more in tuned with my body and holistic approaches to life.
19. Visiting Ft. Campbell, KY with my father - the fort where he did his basic training. Nice seeing it through his eyes, 40 years later.
20. Meeting some really amazing people who continue to blow the socks off my feet and make me love life more each day and realizing that these people are going to probably be a very large part of my 30's.
Wow my 30's ... thinking back to when I was 12, I thought 30 was ancient! I thought I would've been married, had all the kids I ever planned to have already, would be living somewhere in Westchester, and my career would've been a school teacher. Oh how things change. How expectations change. How life happens and you realize you really don't have all that much control over it.
While I am a person who likes a "5 year plan," I think I have to take it easy now and let whatever is about to happen just happen. 30, I am so ready for you!
