make the most of (the rest of) my twenties

My 20s will be over in a couple of weeks…

Our next door neighbor was killed this morning in a freak accident (a stolen truck veered off the road, right through the side of her house at 5am – she died at the scene). She had three daughters, the oldest of which is in college. The news crews were all over the street this morning, asking all the neighbors if they saw/heard anything. I was fast asleep, and didn’t hear ANYTHING, not the crash, not the helicopter in the back yard, the ambulances, police and fire trucks, the hammers boarding up the side of the house. Nothing. I slept while someone died, less than a hundred feet away. I found out what happened from the news reporters who knocked on my door at 11am.

It really makes you feel your mortality, and that of those around you. I made passionate love to my husband when he woke up, and kept telling him how much I love him. I can’t ever not let him know how much he means to me. You never know when it will be the last time you get to say, “I love you.”

so I’m getting low on time for this. But I think I’m doing pretty well.

I’ve taken two extended (3+ week) trips to foreign countries: when I was 20 I lived in Paraguay for a month with a Paraguayan family, and completely immersed myself in the culture, and when I was 25 I traveled around the British Isles by myself, meeting a lot of people and having the time of my life. (I’ve been to many more countries, but they were all while I was in my teens, or even before.) I will be once again going to Scotland and England in April/May on my honeymoon. This time I hope to see a bit more of London. I’ve also been to a number of States in the US, the furthest being California, where I stayed with my brother for a week.

I graduated from The Catholic University of America with a double major in Greek and Latin Classics, in three years, Magna Cum Laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

I taught junior high and high school Latin for a year. (Fun, but not where I want to end up.)

At my current job I now work less and make more money than I ever have before (not tons, but enough). My diligence, attention, and hard work have been recognized, and I have been offered a part-time admin position in addition to my regular hours. I have nearly eradicated my debts.

I met my soulmate (I fell in love with my best friend). I learned to deal with a whole bunch of things I’d never been faced with before, and have come out the stronger for it. I got engaged. I will get married in two months. I am feeling more creative than I ever have. Planning the wedding has been a blast. I can hardly wait.

We’re working on buying our first house, and hope to have everything settled in the next month or so. I am SO looking forward to fixing up, decorating, and setting up our new place. I am also looking forward to making a home, a real home, for my new husband, who has moved so many times in his life, and lived in so many bad and temporary situations. I want more than anything to give him a safe haven he can call his own, where he can stay for years.

By then end of my 20s (say, when I’m 29) I would love to be pregnant with our first child.

Aside from all the quantifiable things, I think the greatest achievement of my 20s is how I have grown as a person. I’ve matured mentally and emotionally. I have become a person whom I genuinely like. I am finally happy with myself: my personality, my body, where I am with my life. I have become stronger, less intimidated by people or circumstances. I have allowed myself to become emotionally vulnerable, something I was afraid to do for a long time. I have discovered the joy of caring about another person more than myself.

I am really looking forward to my 30s. I think it will be a fantastic time in my life, as I (hopefully) begin the adventure of raising a family.

Life is good.