A New Year

Monday, March 11, 2013
I turned 28 yesterday. At this point in my life, especially since I  live so far away from the vast majority of my friends, birthdays really are just another day and yesterday was no exception. In fact, we lost an hour of my birthday to daylight saving time, it snowed three or so heavy inches the night before which made my commute home from my parents' take an extra 40 minutes, I worked more than I played  (yes, I know it was a Sunday) and I capped the night off alone watching an HBO documentary about the 1980 USA hockey team since Andy was off at a sports show for work and didn't arrive home until the wee morning hours today.

Okay, so maybe the start of my 29th year doesn't sound terribly great on paper, but I assure you I had a perfectly lovely day.

For one thing, I'm rather glad to have missed out on being a member of the 27 club. Whew! My brother did subtly point out to me yesterday that I perhaps have not lived my life in notorious enough of a manner to rank up there with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse even if I had met an untimely demise last year. You know what? I'm okay with that.

Honestly, I'm kind of excited about 28. I've always had a fondness for the number 8. My hockey jersey numbers were 8 and 18 and I remember both of those ages fondly. At eight I totally rocked the second and third grades (advanced reading group, holler) and met the love of my life (#notreallyelementaryschoolsweethearts), while eighteen brought my first trip overseas (hello lover, erm, London) , high school graduation and the start of college. So even if this belief is somewhat delusional, I feel as though 28 might just serve up something big, exciting, and wonderful. Maybe? Just maybe? Maybe not?

I've been hearing via the blogosphere that our 20s end up being our time for searching, stretching, and well, more often than we'd like to admit, struggling. Now our 30s on the other hand (or so I'm told) is when we really get to settle in and thrive. So although I have a few years (okay, two) to go before hitting the big 3-0, I do feel that I'm getting closer to a point in my life where I can settle down a little bit and enjoy the fruits of my labor. At least I hope so, because I rather loudly proclaimed to a colleague yesterday morning, "I'm tired of making hay!" in response to the infamous "make hay while the sun shines" quip.

I think we all get a bit weary of making hay every now and then. Last week my motivation tanked and decided to throw myself a little pity party over the fact that I live in the forest far, far away from the rest of my friends. (I may spend a little too much time alone in the winter.) But this week is not only a new week, but a new year for me, so I'm planning to head forth with a better attitude and a deeper acknowledgement of the beauty around me.

The amaryllis we received last Christmas is blooming again

At 9 p.m. last night, when I was telling myself, you have to work, you don't get to paint your toenails, I thought what the heck, it is my birthday. Just paint your toenails already. Maybe 28 will see me letting go of my delusion that I can and will work 14 hour days and then being consistently disappointed in myself for failing my lofty and unattainable performance goals? We can hope.

I'm sure this color (cranberry cream) was very trendy when I bought it in 2001
I spent the weekend with my parents watching the boys state high school hockey tournament (and a fair amount of Parks and Recreation in between games). Although none of the northern teams came out on top, I had a great time introducing my parents to the wonder of Twitter during the game - it was pretty fun to watch #thetourney trending away.

Oh, there was birthday key lime pie too yesterday. If you want proof of just how old I am, please note that I expressly requested a large piece of pie at my birthday dinner which . . . I could not finish. What is the world coming to?!

6 comments:

  1. Happy belated birthday! 28 is a good number. Not that I'm biased or anything. ;)

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  2. A happy belated birthday. Twenty-eight. So long ago for me, married not even two years, not yet a mother. Twenty-eight seems just the beginning of life for me in retrospect.

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  3. Happy belated birthday! The older I get, the more comfortable I feel with my life and who I am. So aging right now isn't that big of a deal for me other than hopefully to find a bit more solace ;)

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  4. Happy 28th B-day Ada. I think you're a very hard working gal and you deserve the very best! Just like you do with your writing, do for your personal self--go for it!

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  5. Very happy belated birthday. Herzlichen Glueckwunsch. Tanti auguri. Feliz cumpleanos. Bon anniversaire. Key Lime Pie sounds delish. Came to love this dessert.

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  6. Happy birthday, Ada! You will totally rock age 28!

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