Farewell twenties!

Note - I started this post on Friday, before the weekend truly showed its colors. Details of the weekend are to follow.

Today is the last day of my twenties. When I turned 20, I was in college, living with 2 roommates, not getting the grades that I knew I was capable of, and dating a guy that I thought was 'the one'. I thought life was good, actually.

I turned 21 and life totally changed. That summer, my college boyfriend of almost 2 years dumped me for my roommate in June. I moved out to live with my best friend from high school in August, and finished my last few credits needed to graduate. By September, I was working my butt off at my first teaching job.

Teaching those first few years was so difficult! I enjoyed working with the kids and ultimately felt like I was making a difference. I was overwhelmed with the workload of grading papers and planning new activities, but it was a rush each day in the classroom. Throughout my years of teaching, my patience developed. I appreciate the differences in people and have learned to be both empathetic and sympathetic to others' situations. I feel like teaching has contributed the greatest amount of change to my personality in my 20s.

I also went through my 20s as a single gal trying to date in the post-college world. I met several Mr. Wrongs, who at times I tried to convince myself were Mr. Rights. I think I had set my standards pretty low at times. I saw friends get married and start families. I became somewhat envious, but in a healthy way if you could call it that. With each wedding or baby born, I got excited for my own experiences that had yet to come.

Running came into my life. At 21, I was 183 pounds and embarrased at my weight. After seeing my pictures of my college graduation, I was horrified as to the size I had grown to be. I had become a vegetarian after a couple of semesters of Ecology and other related animal biology classes. The summer of 1999 saw 30 pounds lost and a new excitement about exercise. I started running to get in shape. After a marathon training on my own in 2004, I thought I might do pretty well if I started training with a group.

Well, as most of you who read this know, running has been a blast. Goals have been set and reached (or failed), and with each training season and race, I have learned more about my body's limitations and my mind's power over my body. I have learned how I sabotage myself as well as how I can push myself way beyond what I thought was possible.

As I leave the 20s, I feel ready for what is ahead. I am with the man that I have been waiting for all this time and am looking forward to the life we are about to build together. They say that the 30s are so much better than your 20s. If so, then I am surely to be blessed with a great life!