Back in high school (waaaaaaay back in high school), I had the earliest birthday among my close friends. So I was the first one with a driver's license, the first one who could legally buy smokes (not that I ever did -- at least not for myself), and the first one eligible to sign myself out of school anytime I wanted. I'm lucky enough to still be in touch with those same fabulous ladies, several of whom were sure last week to make mention that, once again, I blazed a trail across a birthday milestone. Bitches. :)
"What's it like being 30?" they asked me. So I shall attempt to answer it here.
So far I am actually liking 30. Like Aaliyah said, it ain't nothing but a number, but it is nice and round, as numbers go, so you tend to look back -- and forward -- to other round numbers in your life. While it makes me cringe to think about how long it's been since I was 20, it's also kind of good because it makes me appreciate how far I've come. I mean, no, I'm not a famous bluegrass singer or a novelist or celebutante. But I'm also not homeless, incarcerated, a cult member or a fast-food worker, so I can't much complain.
In my 20s, I met wonderful friends and had great educational and character-building experiences in college, where I also found the path to my life's work, mostly by accident. I also graduated from said college, cultivated a passion for a kind of music I'd never heard before, made more friends and got a great career start in my first job. I lost my appendix and a kidney stone, and I lost a friend far too early, which helped lead me to losing whatever small bit of religious-type faith I may have previously had. I had my heart broken and I broke someone else's heart. I Ianded (with some difficulty) my second job and learned a lot about what I don't want in a career -- but still accumulated some great friends. I learned to look at my parents as people. I met and married the man of my dreams, and in so doing gained an absolutely incredible family and somehow became the only person on earth who doesn't hate at least one of their in-laws. I developed and (I hope) beat a paralyzing fear of flying and I moved to a foreign country, learning new customs and bits and pieces of a new language, and learning a whole lot about myself and my place in the world in the process.
But of course, for a milestone birthday you're just as likely to look ahead, too. It's hard to imagine what will happen -- good and bad -- by the time I'm 40. So I try not to, too much. I'll probably move back to the States, with a new job that may be The One I stay with. Two other likely scenarios -- things I'd like to happen in the next 10 years, anyway -- are pets and, gulp, kids. So basically, I anticipate that my 30s will be mostly about poop, and learning humility from cleaning it up.
