I turn 30 years old next week.
It's weird because I don't feel 30. I keep thinking I'm 24 or 25 the same way that 2002 feels like it was just a few years ago. And yet, I haven't really felt like a young, hip twenty-something since about the time that I got pregnant with Lucy. And let's be honest: I wasn't even that hip in my twenties.
But I will not mourn my twenties. Because to mourn that time period feels like I have something to regret. I loved my twenties mainly because there are events from that time period that I will remember for the rest of my life.
I was 20 years old when I went to Feb Formal. I met a young man named Stephen Soden at that dance. He was from Massachusetts and he was probably most impressed with my summer vacation that revolved around trips to Fenway. He made a poor first impression and mixed one of the most disgusting drinks I have ever choked down, but after February 22, 2003 there was rarely a day that he and I weren't together.
In May of 2004, I graduated from college at the age of 21. (Sidenote: I have no photographic evidence of this event because I had just gotten my wisdom teeth out and looked like a chipmunk.) About one month later Steve and I were engaged.
And approximately one month after that, at the age of 22, I packed all of my possessions into my Dodge Neon and headed out to Alexandria, Virginia where I would dive into the boarding school world.
At the age of 22, I made what is arguably the best decision of my life and married Steve on November 27, 2004. We were young, we probably didn't know
exactly what we were getting into, but we knew we were doing it together and that was enough.
We stayed in Virginia for a year before moving to Baltimore for a year. In February of 2006 we headed up to Sheffield, MA to check out Berkshire School. It was snowing and I remember coming up the picturesque driveway. I could immediately see myself being happy there.
In the summer of 2007 we found out that I was pregnant, and we welcomed Lucille Ann in April of 2008. And a little under two years later we welcomed Caroline Jane in March of 2010. Those girls turned our lives upside down in the best way possible.
And now here I am. I am *almost* 30, a mother of two little girls, a wife, a teacher, a coach, and I don't know what else. My twenties were good. I mean
really good. The kind of good that you would never want to change - even the really hard parts like losing Meme, Aunt Jean, Grandma, and Grammy.
And now I think about my thirties. I am hopeful that they will be as good to me as the past decade has been. My guess is that the next ten years will be less about me and more about my girls and my family. And perhaps the best thing that my twenties have taught me is that it's good to have my life be less about me.
