The Beginning of the End

Today is my 29th birthday. It started with one balloon, two breakfasts from Panera, three cards from coworkers, and plenty of hugs and singing and laughter. Then someone gave me a knowing look and asked, "So . . . 29, huh? How are you handling that?"

In the moment, I smiled confidently and told her I felt fine, but I've been secretly dreading that question for weeks. I'm supposed to feel like I'm on the edge of a precipice, clinging to the remnants of my youth and beauty and hope as I peer down into the valley of the shadow of death and/or my thirties. But the only things I know for certain I will miss about being a twenty-something are 1) a decade-long connection with Jamie Cullum's Twentysomething album and 2) my equally long-lasting (albeit somewhat lapsed) connection to the TwentySomethingBloggers (20SB) community.

As such, I have decided to listen to Mr. Cullum's album as I write this blog post, and I have decided that this blog post will be the first in a series of daily updates—letters from my 29-year-old self that I hope to look back on for many years to come. I don't expect that my life will be significantly different simply because I survive another trip around the sun, but I do hope that my life continues to be impacted by the memories I choose to share and remember and by the friends I meet and love because of the Internet. That is why I started blogging in the first place, and it's why I continue to share photos and tweets and vlogs and Tumblrseses and so on.

So here's to another year of memories, another year of friendships, and one last year of being a twenty-something. Cheers.