Turning 26

Today is the first day of my 27th year on the planet. I have completed 26 of them and all I can keep thinking is "What a wild ride it's been!" I like to think of myself as relatively normal but I don't think that's true. Friends who have known me for any number of years are always impressed with how far from normal my life tends to be. I'm incredibly lucky and fortunate and it's hard not to be optimistic and have faith that everything will turn out OK because my life experience has proven that to be true. And I don't take that for granted because I'm sure there are folks who can't get things to turn out OK no matter how hard they try.

Sometimes I do get wrapped up in the little, unimportant things that feel so huge, but I have to remind myself that I have so much to be grateful for. There is my family and extended family who have supported me in every way during the first quarter century of my life (even if they have equally made me crazy along the way.) There are my friends, the true ones, even though few and far between, who know me, love me, and accept me in spite of my many shortcoming but who appreciate and love me for my strengths as well. There is my health, my strength, my mental capacity, my neuroses, yes I am grateful for it all.

When I take stock of what I have in this world, what I have accomplished, and what I have yet to do, I can't help but look forward to the adventure that will be the next 25 years. I look forward to writing and reflecting when I reach 50... I feel like at 26 my life is in many ways just beginning and I can't wait to see what happens!