Turning 25's not that big of a deal, right? Well, if you had told me that this time last year I could have come back at you with a million reasons why you were wrong. Heck, this time 10 years ago, I would have laughed in your face. (well, probably not, I think I was a lot nicer then)
But I mean seriously, we're talking 25 here people, twenty-freaking-five!?!?! Yah yah, I know all you old people are laughing to yourselves thinking "just wait til you get to be (insert your large numbers, I mean age, here), and then we'll talk", but this felt huge. I don't know why, it just did. Maybe because I had an unofficial check-off list of what should be done by this age? And yes, admittedly, 1o+ years ago I thought that being married with at least one kid was a reasonable expectation for any respectable and successful 25 year old (throw in the white picket fence, a golden retriever, and a homemade pie cooling in the window, and you're set).
Maybe because I have this strange idea of a natural progression of set stages in life (as mentioned in previous posts) and I'm realizing that's not necessarily the case? Or maybe 25 felt huge because it actually IS HUGE, in small ways.
Can something be huge, in small ways? I'm voting with yes. As much as I can list off a really (really) long list of the things I want in life, things I wish I were doing, things I want to own, things I want to accomplish, and things I wish I had already accomplished, I can make a list just as great of what the last 25 years have held for me.
I live in a fantastic city. Cute house. Wonderful friends. Incredible family.
Education. Faith. Job. Independence.
Twenty-five. Huge, in small ways.
Maybe life is more than a check-list of achievements and progressions, and I need to kick-back and enjoy the ride. (How cliche can I be?) Some advice I heard recently was "enjoy the beauty in each day." I laughed, out loud. Seriously. Rude, I know (remember when I said I was nicer 10 years ago? Here's proof.) But maybe that really is part of it. Screw the check-list and have some fun. Every day. Sometimes I just need little reminders like this. Prepare for the future but enjoy the day to day. (Granted, it's tricky when my job has been far less than ideal lately, but I'm gonna work on trying to find the beauty in my crazy patients who think it's fun to spit pee on people. Yes, you read that correctly. Wanna come to work with me sometime?)
Wow, this is not AT ALL where I was going with this blog post! What the heck? Sorry. I was just going to throw up some pictures of one of my birthday festivities with some of my fave people and my favorite Waco restaurant. Gotta love the El Con'
And to put this whole quarter-life crisis thing in perspective, we recently celebrated my grandparents' birthdays (82 and 85!) They are wonderful people and the best grandparents ever (I know I'm biased, but you should meet them, and I think you'll agree)
So there ya go, quarter-life crisis averted. Now I'm off to go find some Advil for my aching back, I am twenty-five after all.
