My next thirty years...

Well, it’s been awhile, hasn’t it. I figured today was as good a day as any to write on this thing, since I’m standing on the precipice of a milestone. Maybe “standing on the precipice of a milestone” is glamming it up a little too much. I’m turning 30 tomorrow. Yikes.

Naturally, I’ve spent the last few weeks analyzing my first twenty nine years. It’s the precious few who find themselves exactly where they thought they’d be at 30. I always thought I’d have a house, a wife, a dog…but things don’t always work out exactly how you think they will. Besides, the ideas about where I thought I’d be when I turned 30 were galvanized in me at a young age. And they were based on outdated ideas taken from TV shows and movies anyway. So I’m not too terribly worried about it. That’s not to say my nesting instincts aren’t kicking in. Because I think they are. But I’m not gonna go home and wrap myself around a bottle of whiskey because I live in a one-bedroom apartment and eat microwave slop for dinner. I’m a single guy. It’s what I do.

So like I was saying, I’ve been looking back at my life, and I was thinking about how today marks the end of an important chapter (to employ the old, overused cliché). It made me realize that I really, really enjoyed my twenties. It’s easy for me to say that this was the most important decade of my life, the most formative, but is that true? Let’s take a look:

Chapter 1 (0-9 years old): Obviously this was a big one in terms of basics. I learned to eat solid foods. I learned to walk (which is important!). I learned to talk (also important!). I stopped shitting on myself (for the most part). I also developed a love of music. And drawing. And reading. I realized that I sucked at sports, but I still liked watching them. Did I really understand anything about the world? Or other people? Probably not.

Chapter 2 (10-19 years old): This was a big one in terms of personal development. Like most young adults, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who I was. I know people love to talk about how they “weren’t cool in high school.” I really wasn’t. If my high school were a TV show, I wasn’t even an ancillary character, I was an extra. Hell, I may have been a secondary character in my own life, that’s how much a “face in the crowd” I was. Still, I can’t write off this chapter completely. These experiences shaped me. And I learned how to drive. And I developed an interest in girls, though I’m not sure what good that’s done me. I should mention that I kissed my first girl during this decade (though it was embarrassingly late in the chapter when this finally happened).

Chapter 3 (20-29 years old): This was my favorite decade. For one thing, I finally started to come out of my shell right around the time I turned 20. Also, I had my first girlfriend. Then my second. I was starting to learn things about the opposite sex. I was introduced to the cold, cruel reality that is “the real world.” I left my comfort zone and discovered my independence (and solitude) when I moved to Minnesota. I moved to New York and made friends with some of the most interesting and decent people on this planet. I rediscovered my hometown. All in all, this was a very, very good ten years for me.

Anyway. What was my point? Oh right, which decade was the most important. The first and the last, I guess.

Well, if the pattern holds, then my thirties might be another off-decade on par with my teens. Maybe that’s what’s worrying me about my thirties – that all of my growing and adventuring is in the past. All of the preparation is over. The wheels are up, the takeoff was a success and now I’m just gonna settle in, take off my seatbelt, pick up a book and enjoy the long, boring, snack-free flight toward the grave.

But that’s a pessimistic attitude, isn’t it. This is the decade that I start a family! And maybe go back to school! And start a company! And write a book! Yep, the world is my oyster. Maybe I really am standing at the precipice of something.