What Lies Beyond 30?!

Last night, I said goodbye to the final day of my twenties in fine style, and as a result I ushered in a new era of thirtyness this morning feeling every bit my age. I have no one to blame but myself. My whole body aches—my knees especially from all that jumping around-- I’m tired, I have a headache...

Yeah, it was a late one last night. Got right into it with the boys. Got served a few, killed a few, blocked a few.

Blocked a few?

No, I wasn’t drinking away my twenties last night, I was on the volleyball court.

30 years old is going around like a flu bug in my circles; my peer group are all just “of that age” now. As one with a birthday somewhat late in the year, I’ve had the chance to sit back and observe as others cross this threshold before me. To the people who have been a bit freaked out about it, I have to ask:

why?

People say they lament the loss of their 20’s.

Huh?

Do you want to go back to massive student debts and eating kraft dinner three nights a week? Do you want to go back to moving from basement suite to basement suite? Are you so attached to your ‘Bar Star’ status?

And then there are people like Matthew McConaughey’s character in ‘Dazed and Confused’, who said "...the great thing about high school girls is that I keep getting older, but they just stay the same age..." CREEPY, yes, and I also think reflective of someone who might be afraid of the future or doesn’t feel like they’ve accomplished enough of what they wanted to and is running out of time. Thus, they’d prefer to stay in the past.


I feel nothing of those things, and I’m totally looking forward to the next thirty years. Seriously, what’s to be worried about? God willing, this is not my mid-life point, so crisis averted there. God willing, I have only advancement ahead of me in terms of career. God willing, I’ll get to see my happy little family grow and develop. I presume there’s going to be more time for seeing the world, reading good books, seeing good movies, going to good parties and concerts, eating good food and spending time with good people. And, God willing, good health will stay with me through it all.

So if that’s all true, then this really isn’t a time for worry, or need of pause, or morose self-evaluation.

So, simply, happy birthday to me. Today is a good day, and I am glad to be in it. Yesterday was a good day and so too, I expect, tomorrow will be as well. And hey, why fight it? After all:

There is no cure for birth and death, save to enjoy the interval.
– George Santayana

Ps-if you want to buy me a beer at some point because you think the occasion requires more celebration, I won’t object to that ;) For now, you’ll have to excuse me. I’m gonna go ice my knees.