2008 is the year I turn 30. This is not something I am looking forward to. I’ve kind of been dreading it for a while (not every day or anything but when I think of 30, I groan). I think I am dreading 30 because I am not where I always imagined I’d be and 30 seems to be the point of no return.
I grew up in the country. People were married in their early 20’s and by the time they were 30, they’d had all their children. I thought I’d get married the summer I graduated from college. It didn’t happen. Then the prospects dwindled and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get married!
A few years ago my mom attended her 30th high school reunion. When she went, there was no need for a babysitter or pizza money or anything because all of my mom’s kids were grown. This was not the case with a few members of her class, including my father (my half-sister is 13 years younger than I am). I remember thinking how freeing that would be. And then I did the math and discovered that I would have to meet and marry a man and then have all the children we were going to have by the time I was 27 (I think I was 25 and very, very single).
I finally met (maybe just after I had my high school reunion realization) and married a wonderful man (two months before my 29th birthday).
All of this is to say that my 1st life-plan got squashed. But I can’t get the idea out of my head so really 30 is old and I don’t want to be it. And I really don’t want to be 30 and 80lbs overweight. For my birthday I decided that I wanted to lose those extra pounds. 10 months, 2lbs a week=80lbs. Technically, it’s doable. Practically, it means when I am looking for a snack, I should eat carrots, celery, pickles (with plenty of water of course). We’ll see how it goes. Right now, I’d rather have chocolate than carrots!
