Today I am 30 years old. It is with a tinge of sadness that I leave my 20s behind, but I’m hoping this next decade will be my happiest, healthiest and favorite yet. (There’s a good chance of it with my all-time #1 favorite person by my side.)
I’ve used the month leading up to today to list 30 things about myself that I love and that make me me. They have been 30 things meant to build up my self esteem and and get me pumped up and ready to tackle life with the pride, maturity and wisdom of having been around for 30 years. I’m not sure I feel quite that enthusiastic about starting the next decade in my life, but I can definitely say I’m more excited about being me than I was 30 days ago.
Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I haven’t been as positive or happy as I wish I had been this past year and I hope that today can mark a new starting point for me to be the me that I love and love the me that I am.
The next year’s goals won’t be lofty, unachievable ones. There will simply be one: to be happy as often as possible doing as many things with those that I love as is possible.
I’m not going to lie. Twenty Eight hasn’t been my favorite year. These things have happened that make me glad to leave it behind:
— The first time I’ve coughed up pure blood that resulted in an adventure to the ER around midnight on a Sunday back in January.
— Five courses of oral antibiotics after 2+ years of no exacerbations.
— Bacteria-ridden sputum cultures. I had about a 2 year streak of clean sputum cultures.
— My body telling me it’s old and worn out and really doesn’t want to be a runner in the future.
— Some family members and friends have had some difficult medical problems to deal with this year. I think we’ll call this year the Year of Bad Medical Diagnoses.
There have been good things, too. This is not supposed to be a medical-downer post.
At risk of sounding cliche, I treasure each moment I get to spend with my husband. That all-nighter in the ER? Matt was awesome company reaffirming that he’s my perfect complement. We’ve had lots of great evenings in the past year eating take out food and watching something or other he’s selected on netflix.
I’ve had some great times with family and friends, be it trips, vacations or just staying home. There has been lots of good company and good food. Also, work is going great.
I’m thankful for everything I have going for me, my husband and the rest of our families. While I can’t say I enjoy being one year farther away from my youth, adding another year to my life brings with it a sense of accomplishment and pride.
Welcome, Twenty Nine. I have a feeling it will take me several months before I remember that you’re here when people ask my age, just like with Twenty Eight. I also have a feeling you’ll bring the endearing “old moldy” from my husband’s lips more than once this year. I’m bracing for the last year of my twenties. Let’s make it the best year yet, because we both know I’ll be really sad to see you go when Thirty comes knocking around this time next year.
