Completed Goal: Goal 99

Goal 99: Turn 30 and like it

Life is not a dress rehearsal. Stop practicing what you're going to do and just go do it. In one bold stroke, you can transform today.


~ Marilyn Grey

This was tougher than I thought it would be, but I have to admit it got easier. I struggled with the idea of turning 30. I kept having all these thoughts about where I thought I'd be by now, and whether I was close enough or just really far off. The more I thought about it, I realized that it didn't matter. When had I put this "plan" together? College? High School?

Basically I had made some decisions about what my life should be without actually giving myself a chance to live any of it first. I don't know that I could have predicted where my life and my opportunities would have taken me when I was 16. I don't know that I could have predicted what the next 14 years would bring. I could barely predict what the next weekend was going to bring. But that's kinda how things are supposed to be at 16. Now I like to plan ahead a little bit. OK, a lotta bit.

So where did I think I'd be. First, I thought I'd be married. OK- check. I thought there might be a kiddo around. Not so check. I thought that I'd have some high-powered title. Not so much with the title, but a little but on the high-power. Not that I'm quite in the C-Suite yet, but I get to work on some pretty cool projects, and overall I'm excited to go to work. I think that rounds up to a check. I thought I'd have a house. Check- a big ole mortgage sized check and a stack of design magazines with pages dog-eared to prove it.

I came pretty close to everything on that list. And to top it off, I did some things that maybe I didn't expect.

I lived in London and worked for a theatre company for a summer in college. That's a dream come true right there. I've seen Paris at sunset and the hills of Ireland at sunrise. I've stood backstage for countless performances, both at work and for shows that I was actually in, though none of those happened outside of Illinois or Indiana. I tried out for American Idol. Didn't make it on TV, but that also means I didn't get made fun of on TV. That's a win. I've stood next to my best friends while they got married and had them stand next to me. I get to come home to a dog who acts like seeing me walk through the door is the best thing that happens to him all day. I've gotten to hear my parents say that they're proud of me and that they love me. I get to hear my husband say it every night.

All in all, the first 30 years have been pretty fantastic. Who knows what the next will bring? I don't. And really that's going to be part of the fun.