What most people dread, I am eagerly anticipating. I turn the big 3-0 this December and I almost can’t wait. I won’t miss my 20s at all. Don’t take me wrong, they were growing years. Someone said something to me recently that I think is really true…they said it seems that I’ve had a lifetime of experiences crammed into a short amount of time.
I spent a majority of my 20s growing increasingly unhappy, although I didn’t even realize it. I told myself I was content and that was enough. Well in the last couple years I’ve woken up and realized content isn’t good enough. I wanted my life back, I wanted to be happy. This road to happiness has not been easy and it’s even had times of utter despair. But I think I’m developing into someone who will grow increasingly happy every day. That’s why I’m looking forward to turning 30. I feel like I’ve changed and improved so much and I can’t wait for what I feel like is a clean slate, a clean decade. It’s gonna be awesome, ya’ll.
That said, I am feeling an increasing need to ring in this birthday with style, or at least loads of fun. Several problems. No, not problems. Opportunities to overcome an obstacle. Feel free to comment (PLEASE) on suggestions for tackling these obstacles.
The first is timing. My birthday is nine days before Christmas so getting folks together during this crazy time might be hard.
The second is location. I have people in my life from Tulsa and surrounding area, Wichita, Denver, SW Missouri, Washington and northwest Arkansas who I would love to have celebrate with me. Me being little miss fairness and objectivity would want to find a place that is accessible for all of them to get to easily. It would also have to be big enough to hold everyone but not so big that I look stupid for renting it.
The third is money. The kind of party I’m envisioning would cost money. I want to have a certain band (ahem, look at my page) play and I wouldn’t feel right not paying them even though I think they do freebies. I think I could get around the food thing by making it a potluck but that seems kinda tacky. But heck, it’s my birthday I’ll be tacky if I want to! There’s other stuff that would cost money that I just don’t have right now. Not sure how I would raise it and justify spending it on myself like that. I’d much rather spend money on a wedding or something. I dunno.
There’s lots of ideas floating through my head of what I would want and what I envision. Sometimes I’m great about getting an idea and executing it but other times I just dream. Either way, I know my 30th birthday is going to be special somehow.
I think you have it right, you will enjoy this decade of your life. Parties are fun, and you do deserve one, not only for your birthday but for all the great things you have done. If one party is not possible then celebrate with all your friends for a month long. Get together for large gatherings or for small ones. If money is an issue than scale down the big day, or see if someone has connections (civic group building, fellowship hall, ect) or maybe someone else would want to host the party in your honor. If this does not work maybe a good time to celebrate would be over new years. I know sharing your big day with the new year might not sound like much fun, but I bet it could be a blast. Might be a lot easier for all the friends to gather too. When I turned 30 I was working on assignment (as a travel nurse) and knew 3 other girls from work. We went out for the day to the beach, at the time I felt like I missed out on such a big birthday. Now looking back (and 1 1/2 decades later) I realized this was a perfect day, filled with perfect sun, water and new friends to share it with. Whatever you do I hope you also look back and remember it with much fondness. Keep us posted on what happens about the party.