Knockin' on Thirty's Door...

In eight days, I turn the big 3-0. I cannot believe it! I swear I just got those tickets to go see 'Grease' on my 18th birthday last year and remember celebrating my 21st like it was yesterday. Now, approaching the exit of one decade and knocking on the door of another. It's kind of scary when you think about it.

The thing is, when I turned 20, I pretty much knew what was up the road. I knew I still had to finish college, I would probably get a good job, and would eventually get married and have a family. I guess looking back, that is exactly what I did. Well, except I stayed in college and got two degrees, have had three jobs since then, and got married to a completely different person than I expected. But, it's all good...for real. You make a lot of really big decisions in your twenties. You decide where to live, what to major in, where to work, who to marry, and if you're like me and most of my friends, you start having babies.

I guess in your 30's, you begin to live out the product of those decisions, good or bad. I was talking to a friend the other day who was telling me that she hated her field of work and was considering going back to school to do something else entirely. The only problem is, she's 30 with two kids, a mortgage, etc. and doesn't know how to make it work. Should she stay in a job that she hates for the rest of her life because of a decision she made when she was 20? It's a tough decision that comes with some very real considerations. The problem with making all those decisions when you're so young is that you change SO much in those ten years. I am not the same person I was at 20 when I was at UGA, or even at 25 when I got married. Nor will I be the same at 40 as I am at 30, God willing. We can't constantly look back and think, 'if only life was as simple as when I was younger.' Or second guess our own decisions and wonder, 'what if I had chosen differently?' because that only makes you dissatisfied with the life you are currently living. We grow, we change, and we have to make the most with what we have been given or what the outcome of those choices brings. Life's too short to constantly look back and wonder 'what if?' Before you know it, another decade will have passed and you'll be reminscing about how great you had it 'back then.' You can't change where you are, but you can control where you are going and it's up to you whether you move forward or allow yourself to backwards, longing for 'what might have been' through rose-tinted glasses, no less.

So, here's to my new decade and whatever it may bring. I pray it will be much peace, much happiness, and more growth and change within me. In my next thirty years, I hope I will have been stretched, grown, changed, challenged, blessed, loved, and have been loved even more than in these past ones. Here's to my 30's...and whatever they may bring! :)