Quarter of a Century

Happy 25th Birthday to Me!

I am pretty excited.

25.

Sounds so grown up. I can now rent a car, I have officially entered my mid-twenties, and have enough experience under my belt to at least have somewhat of a voice and opinion. I am three years out of college and getting ready to go back. I have had an amazing year and am excited for what is coming next. Life is always an adventure with me!

I love birthdays. I have never ever dreaded getting one year older. I know, that may catch up with me someday, but for now I am excited about what year 25 will bring. Year 24 year was pretty amazing. I began it in Saipan, traveled to Bali, Australia, and Japan, completed a triathlon, watched my little brother get married, started a new job, and got accepted to a Master’s program. And that is only a small, small sampling of year 24.  

It seemed only natural to blog on this day.  As I thought long and hard about what to write I came up with a few ideas, but overall I realized that I am so blessed and thankful for my life, its hard to narrow it down. It’s been an amazing 25 years and while I could easily come up with 25 things to write about, I am not a fan of long lists and I am guessing you aren’t either. So I narrowed it down to five things I have learned in my 25 years of life. That’s an easy multiple of 25. Five is only a penny in the bucket of all the life lessons I have learned, but hopefully I can keep your attention for long enough to stick through the five. I will even count them down, although they are not really in any particular order.

5. After 25 years, my parents still know best. While they have become my best friends and have definitely let me grow up, I now  listen to their advice with an open ear. I have finally realized that they may be wiser than I cared to think and they might know a little bit more than I do. (tough lesson to learn)  I am pretty sure I am only where I am today because of them and I am so thankful for their support and love, even when I chose not to listen to them.

4. After five college major changes, three drastically different jobs, traveling the world, and a lot of researching, I finally found a path. I won’t go so far to say I know exactly what I want to do with my life, but I will say that I have a direction, a focus, and a passion that I plan to pursue until I can no longer. It starts with going back to school. Where it will finish, only God knows. I believe it really started when as a fourth grader I decided to read Uncle Tom’s Cabin. (If you have not read it, I can assure it is not fourth grade level reading material)  My mom may be able to tell you it started earlier than that. All I know is the fight against slavery has been inside of me since that day. What that will look like in terms of the future, I have no idea. All I know is that I cannot squelch it and the number of people enslaved is higher than it has ever been in history so there is a need for people passionate once again about the abolishment of slavery.

3. Life is all about being present where you are. This was a hard lesson to learn. In fact, I did not learn it until last year. Most of my life I was always looking forward to the next step, the next thing, the next whatever. Moving across the world to a very small island left me no choice but to be where I was. There was no leaving and no sense in being miserable-hello, aside from the cockroaches and mosquitoes, it was pretty close to paradise. So I dug in, made friends, got involved, coached, traveled, and made memories I will have forever.  I made a decision as I said good-bye to Saipan that I was going to live where I was. God doesn’t put us places without purpose so wherever that is, I am going to be all there for however long I am there.

2. Experiences > Stuff.  Enough said.

1. Friendships, if worth maintaining, will take work. But the value of a close friend cannot be put into words. E-mail, call, Skype, laugh, and learn together. Find friends that enjoy what you enjoy, share your heart, and at the end of the day, love you for exactly who you are-quirks and all!

I have no idea what year 25 will bring, but I can assure it, life will be anything but boring! I am already starting a list of things to accomplish and I am so excited about the year! For now though, I am going to enjoy my triple shot, venti Peppermint Mocha (free from Starbucks) and enjoy the day.