My Twenties Birthdays

As I enter my final year of my 20's, I wanted to look back and remember all the things I've done and where I've come in nearly a decade. It's been an incredible 9 years behind me and one more ahead of me. I wonder if I'll look back as my 20's being the best years of my life. I'll start with chronicling my last 9 birthdays. The above photo is my 2nd birthday with my mom.

20

April of 2000 found me in my last month of my 2 years as Wesleyan College in Georgia. I met my then-boyfriend, a Marine station in North Carolina, in Atlanta for a weekend of tourist attractions & Stone Mountain.

21

For my 22nd birthday, I went with my (new) then-boyfriend from Austin for a little weekend on the Riverwalk in San Antonio.

22

I have no photos from my actual birthday this year, but this was one of the closest I could find. Zoe had been with me for about a month in mid-April, and I have distinct memories of coming home to some flowers & a card on my apartment door, and a very stinky, dirty puppy who had poo-ed in her kennel.

23

Dad & Brenda have a pretty good tradition of taking me out to a nice restaurant for my birthday. Before I was old enough to date, I'd been to some swanky places around Houston. Turning 23, I'd been working full-time, in the real world for just a few months & I have some vague memories of partying with a few friends for my birthday.

24

This was the first birthday I officially celebrated with H, but we'd only been dating for 2 months. He wasn't invited to the official celebration with the parents that year...

25

H was in Miami attending law school, so I celebrated another birthday without him. My small-group at church was going sky-diving, so I took the plunge! It was a great experience, I'm glad I did it, but I have no desire to do it again :)

26

For 26, we had a little get-together at mom's house on my birthday & then we went to an Astros game with H's friends on his birthday.

27

I turned 27 two months after our wedding and I celebrated our my first married birthday by hitting up the Melting Pot with some of our friends & H's mom . We went to H's favorite place for his birthday dinner- hot dogs at James Coney Island.

28

Number 28 was probably one of my least favorite birthdays because I had to spend it away from H. I was in Detroit last year & presented the paper I had published at a trade show. We spent the weekend together being tourist, but I spent my birthday with my boss. However, we did celebrate our joint-birthdays that weekend with a crawfish boil with many friends.

29

This year, we celebrated for a whole weekend- starting on my birthday Thursday & ending on H's birthday on Sunday. Saturday night, we did the traditional dinner out with Dad & Brenda. Obviously, Dad is still a bit fooled by the red-eye camera flashes ;)


There ya have it folks! What should I do for my 30th birthday next year? I'd love to be over-seas and traveling to some exotic place, but I might be presenting another paper in Detroit!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: H is off to Tennessee tonight for a very important meeting.