Saturday, July 26, 2008

My BIG 2010...

Soon and very soon, I will wake up to my 30th birthday giving thanks for yet another day of life. I had never felt better or more alive. I no longer take my days for granted ever since I learned that appreciating everything and every person sent to accompany me on my journey was a very satisfying way to live. Even more magical, the more I give thanks the more I seem to have to be grateful for.

I am having a brief historical flashback of all the significant points in my journey that had brought me to being 30, especially all the achievements and pioneering activities I had done. I marveled at it all. I try not to dwell on past negativities because they do not resolve anything, neither do they help my future because they are already gone and I am still here; still able to change my actions if I wish, to reach for the skies and beyond and still as fabulous as I can be despite the dreaded feeling of being asked of my age.


Though sometimes I get the temptation of feeling that birthdays are a bitch. No, this is not a rant about growing old and about the death of idealism
So here we are 30....
Like a first date gone badly, this a tad awkward. I can already tell we’re going to require a transition period as we get to know each other, Just go easy on me: No aches and pains to remind the body of my advancing age, no beer belly as my metabolism slows down even further, and please no surprise like a receding hairline as I enter my fourth decade.

The truth is being 30 doesn’t bother me too much. Since I act (and some might say look) like I’m still 25 or even younger, I figure I’m okay for the short term. Plus, in times like these I am comforted by a Rolodex of clichés by which to live. Age is just a stage of mind. You are only as old as you feel. Blah. Blah. Blah. I feel nominally better. Though we all know that if by some tragic mishap, I had procreated in my twenties (Good Lord I didn’t!), I’d be feeling and acting very old by now.



Age 30 is a moment of truth when certain realities of life firmly take hold.


This brings me to what does concern me about leaving 29 in the dust. I don’t know…


Yes, here we are 30. It sure isn’t what it used to be. They’ve even got a new trendy name for it. There are four traditional phases of life- childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. These have been replaced by at least six according to New York Times columnist David Brooks (whether we like it or not)- childhood, adolescence, odyssey, adulthood, active retirement, and old age.

What is the “odyssey” stage? According to him, this is the decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood. During this decade, as Brooks explains, “20-somethings still go to school, take breaks from school or probably most have already graduated. They live with friends abd they live at home. They fall in and out of love. They try one career and then try another.”

Yep, that pretty much describes it, except for living at home part. I’d also like to extend “20-somethings” into early “30-somethings”, but only until I am completely done with graduate school (when will that be…? huhuhuhuhu…) After that is when I move back in with my mom and my sisters, who as I would say confidently that it is a joke (nyahahahaha… I feel like they already have a hint that I am living with my “significant other”)

Still, I wonder- and fear- whether Brooks is just trying to make excuses for my generation, giving a name to the wanderlust that so many of us fall willing victim to. Odyssey sure sounds better that aimless. But I also think there is a hint of envy in his words. He speaks for a generation that by-and-large married earlier, stayed closer to home and stuck with one career. Far fewer lived independently, and I am curious about what, if any, effect that may have as the baby-boomers approach their golden years.

As far as I can tell, there’s no specific date when odyssey years are supposed to end, though I cant shake the feeling that today is one of those artificial benchmarks when decisions must be made. To that, I can challenge the symbolism of today to take its best shot, hoping that I can effectively dodge all bullets.

So hello thirties and goodbye to my twenties….

So, with the knowledge that my 30th year is the beginning of the rest of my life, which I intend to make the BEST of my life, I am really going to enjoy the journey. It’s not my heyday just yet but my years have been truly wonderful and now life goes on as I welcome my adult years as I continue to enjoy the gift and true blessing that is my family and my Mikey. CHEERS to another glorious year!





"I have made a birthday resolution. I will still be a dreamer, but a more realistic dreamer..."




3 comments:

Ako si Mikey said...

30, 40, 50 who gives a shit! As long as you are enjoying your life and is happy with the people around you, that's all the matters! As long as I have you, that's all that matters!

diony said...

Honey ko salamat.... You are a priceless gift from above...Love kita...

Dondi Tiples said...

I remember when I turned 29.95 (hrhrhrh!) I had just quit law school, was pregnant with my first child, and had gotten married.

Sometimes I wish I had extended my "odyssey" even further. There are still a lot of "what ifs". Still, am spending my 30's in a haze of incomparable happiness/sadness/rage/discovery/joy. It's an odyssey in itself, so to speak.

Wish you all the best of luck for this decade. Enjoyed this post, by the way. So insightful.

donditiples here from eph. Happy writing!