Good Bye 20s

Today is officially my last day as a 20 something. Tomorrow I will turn 30. For some reason that number feels big to me. I know logically that I won't feel or be any different tomorrow than I am today but it still just seems big.

I remember one year walking on a school side walk with my mom going to some pre-school year function and talking with her about how I thought being 12 was old. I think she told me I wasn't and the conversation ended. So now, here we are 18 years later...

I really loved being a kid. I remember running around and playing imaginary games like cops and robbers with my brothers (when we were getting along), being in elementary school and having friends and people to play with, being involved in sports, music stuff, plays, etc and all the memories those events create. I loved being a kid. I didn't have to many cares or responsibilities at that time.

As I got older life definitely got tougher in just about all areas of my life but even so I still had parents and friends who loved me and helped me get through those times.

My 20s has really had a lot of ups and downs. I officially moved out of my parents' house when I was 20 (after 1 year at college). I learned how to become an adult and all the responsibilities that being one entails. I went to school, picked a career, finished school, moved to Arkansas, started my career and got married all in my 20s. Life did not always go the way I wanted it to or planned it to in the past 10 years but looking back I can honestly say God used those times in my life to draw me closer to Him. He has taken care of me in so many amazing ways even in the times when it felt like I had no one who really understood. He has provided all that I needed (and sometimes even more) at just the right times.

I think one reason it just seems a little hard to say good bye to my 20s is because there has just been so much that has happened in my 20s. I am not the same person today that I was on my 20th birthday (thanks to God's strength and grace).

My friend Marti told me a few times something to the effect that your 20s are filled with so much work and struggle but that your 30s are when you get to enjoy the fruit of all the work/struggle you did in your 20s. I'm not sure what the next 10 years has in store for me. I guess with God's help I'll take it one day at a time and see what happens. Today though seems a little bittersweet to me.