20 For My 20\’s
What do you do on the last day of your twenties, that you can’t do in your thirties? I have thought about that today but have yet to figure it out. Anyone? Or better yet, any advice on turning the big 3-0?
The following is a list of my top 20 most memorable events, days, occasions, etc. that have happened to me in the last decade of my existence. (In no particular order).
1. Leaving the Michigan State University Gymnastics team, and giving up gymnastics for good after red-shirting my freshman year because of my arm/hand injury.
2. Each of my arm and hand surgeries at the Cleveland Clinic.
3. All of the crazy, carefree times I had with my roommates and friends during college.
4. Graduating from MSU with a 3.9. (And wearing two different shoes accidentally at the ceremony).
5. Running my first 5k and placing 3rd.
6. The Tuesday Brad called to tell me he wanted ice cream. Really, he was trying to ask me out for the first time but I could not tell for the life of me that that was the purpose of his call.
7. Our first date to Applebee’s, and our first very awkward short kiss.
8. When Allie got sick. Specifically Christmas Eve and Christmas night, 2009.
9. Celebrating Christmas in February when Allie could finally come home from the hospital.
10. When Kristen and Jake had Cecilia Jane.
11. Meeting all of my nieces for the first time.
12. Finding out I was hired by my school district in August, 2005.
13. August 11, 2007. Our wedding day.
14. Meeting my (in-laws to be) for the first time at Chris and Stephanie’s wedding.
15. November 16, 2010 and November 18, 2010. My diagnosis days.
16. Learning I received 99% on my oral and written boards for my Early Childhood Montessori credential (and Master’s Degree), and then bursting into tears in front of the panel because I was so relieved.
17. The day I found out my Dad had cancer. (It has since gone into remission. Knock on wood).
18. My Mom’s 60th surprise party.
19. The day it was decided that I was going to be on medical leave, and the day I returned from medical leave.
20. Watching my brother graduate as a second lieutenant.
This is hard! There’s a million more. I could go on for days. If I had to sum up my twenties, I would say it was a learning decade. It has been a decade full of ups and downs, and learning how to live through them all. It has been a decade of realizing the kind of person I want to be, and realizing what I want in life. It has been a decade of learning my strengths as well as my weaknesses, and that no matter what, life always goes on.
Sayonara, 20’s. It’s on to the next decade.