Turning 30

As the youngest in the family it feels strange hitting the big 3-0. My entire life I always wanted to be older. I wanted to be able to do the things my sister, who is 5 1/2 years my senior was doing. It all began when I was 4, she knew how to read, so I decided I would need to know how to do that too. When I was 10, she was going on dates, so naturally, I needed to tag along on those too. And when I was in college, she was out making her own money, so I definitely needed a real job. I raced through my twenties.

Never satisfied, I crammed as much as I could into the last 10 years and looking back–that really wasn’t such a bad idea. All in all, it was a great decade. By 23, I had finished graduate school and was working as a program manager, which meant getting to travel around the world, keeping my wanderlust at bay.  By 21, I had met and started dating the man I would marry. The kind of guy who watched Titanic and wondered when he would meet the Rose to his Jack. A perfect match to my zany nature, who wasn’t phased (or too impressed) by my endless need to do more–which is exactly what I need to keep doing more. By 25, I had moved 3,000 miles to start our lives on the West Coast and by 27, I was embarking on my first year of medical school. Now at 29 and 362 days, I own my first house and I am months away from starting my final year of med school.

My twenties meant growing as a person. Luckily, my husband and I grew along side each other. Evolving into two people who deep down really just like each other. Our dreams have evolved from dreaming of a wonderful wedding day, medical school acceptance, great job offer, awesome apartment, awesome house…to now one day, a healthy baby and retirement in a Mountain cabin…or Mexico.

My life is still just as hectic as it’s always been. I am continually searching for the next challenge (enter my Surgery rotation which starts on Monday) but I do feel more stable. Perhaps because of medicine I am more logical, concrete–less emotional. I am exactly where I wanted to be by 30: to have a passion I work for every day and a partner to share it with.

As you age, your perception of what’s “old” seems to continue inching forward–a self-preservation mechanism, I guess. I’m still the youngest, which also helps. And so true to form, being 30 just really doesn’t feel that old. I still love staying up late (maybe not at a crowded, late night happy hour) but Netflix marathons are totally things I’ll lose sleep for. I still work-out (ok, so the last time I ran a marathon was 2005) but I am still the same weight I was in high school! I love hanging out with my girlfriends (yes, we recently spent exactly 6 seconds in a college bar before hailing a ride to the ritzy wine bar in the posh financial district) but at least we are still doing girl-talk over cocktails and I can still wear the hell out of my suede pumps. Sure, things may look a bit more refined. But that is just what happens with age.

The best part of entering my 3rd decade–you don’t have to waste any more time figuring out who you are and what you want–because you are already there (that’s what my 20s were for and all those random life de-tours). Knowing exactly what you want is half the battle. And that is probably what excites me the most about my 30s. The “go after it” decade.