You’re all aware of my fascination with Facebook. Love it, love it, love it! It’s a lot of fun to see what people from high school and college are doing these days. People live in exciting places, have had kids, have cool jobs…whatever. Even if people are still doing what they were doing when we graduated, it’s fun to see them.
But the other day I added a friend from high school who looked awful. (If you’re a friend from high school reading this now, don’t worry…it’s not you. This person would probably never read my blog, at least I know that she’s never commented on here.) She hadn’t gained that much weight, which isn’t a surprise because she’s always been slender. But she had more wrinkles than she should have at the tender age of 30. Her eyes looked tired and old. And her smile, which I remember not as radiant but simply happy, was dull. Looking at her picture, I wondered: Do we all look that old? Or has something happened to her that left her worn-down and weary?
My 30th birthday is coming up this summer. Marshall just had his. Apparently it’s a big deal. I’m just not sure why. I guess in the past 30 was mid-life. Not so much anymore. For most of us, at least. I’m also aware that I’m married and I have kids. Many of my friends aren’t married and don’t have kids. They want both of those things. And I think that, for whatever reason, 30 seems like a deadline they missed or are about to miss. (I don’t agree, by the way.)
Apparently a lot of people make “To Do Before 30” lists. Google it if you don’t believe me. There’s even a book devoted to it. Scanning other “30 by 30” lists I found online, I seem to have a lot of these down: married, kids, own a home, traveled to Europe, performed on stage, climbed a mountian(if the mountain at Camp Pinnicle counts!), made cookies from scratch, had plastic surgery(peaked your curiosity on that one, huh?), fired a gun, know how to fold a fitted sheet(thank you, Martha Stewart), take good pictures, sew on a button…
I however have not or cannot keep a plant alive for more than a year, parallel park worth a crap, published a book, learned HTML and CSS, owned a Wii(boo-hoo), or cleaned my house and kept it clean.
So…there is no list. (Maybe I’ll make a bucket list. That movie was pretty good.) But I do hope that by my 30th birthday I am happy(check) and I have made somebody else happy(check…I think!). Of course it’d be nice to lose a little weight, but I have a feeling that may be on many other “To Do” lists for years to come. 🙂
Well you know how i felt about my 30th birthday…but I think that had more to do with the months and months of endless pain than the actual number. Plus as noelle puts it you’re already in your 30th year of life so on your birthday it’s actually the last day of your 30th year and you’ll be in your 31st year!
My 30th is coming very quickly, too. I don’t think most of us look old, but I did notice a few days ago that I have wrinkles around my eyes in my fb profile pic…_that_ made me feel old. What I have noticed in recent months is that teenagers look like elementary aged kids. Crazy. And, like you, I don’t think 30 is that big of a deal anymore, though I have friends who think their lives are going to be over. I personally think we soon-to-be 30 year olds are heading into the best years of our lives!
Turning 30 for me was just that, I turned from 29 to 30. I would like to say that I had some type of ah-ha moment and my life was put into perspective but it wasn’t. It has already been there for a while. The most I hate about turning 30 is gray hair. I never thought I would be so weird about it but it makes me cringe to see it shining on top of my head!
I never thought of making a to do list. My main thing was to be happy, healthy, and maybe in the process have someone around who didn’t mind sharing this time in my life with me, (my friends, family).