Bonne fete a moi!

Significant birthday milestones:
16 - got my G1 driver’s license
19 - bought my first lottery ticket [I lost] and went to the casino [I won $1.95 at nickel slots]
25 - lost my medical coverage under my parents’ insurance plans

Dang it, maybe it’s not such a “bonne” fete after all!

Having happily survived and mostly treasured my quarter of a century on this earth is worth celebrating [whether I can get orthodics or my teeth cleaned free or not]. Now that the cake has been finished and we’re down to the last of the leftover pizza, chicken wings and spring rolls, it is time for reflection [and maybe a few hundred sit-ups…I’m still on 1].

Turning 25 has been an odd experience. I’ve always felt my age [give or take a year or two depending on my maturity or immaturity at the time]. This year is a little different. Hearing the number 25 makes me feel as old as I do young. I feel old because it’s an automatic response. When you look back on any age, a collection of incomplete images of that year’s highs and lows race through your mind, topped off with a silent sigh and the reflection “boy, I was young then”. By the virtue of not having been 25 yet, the lack of memories is what makes the age seem older than it really is [am I making sense?].

But having said that, I know that 25 is young in the grand scheme of things. I feel as though I am turning 29 [still young, I admit, but it is a 16% increase]. On my birthday entry last year, I wrote “A year older, five years wiser”. It was fitting because I learned a lot of things about myself and developed my adult perspective of life during my 23rd year. If there were a catch phrase to describe my 24th year, it would be “A step toward adulthood” [or "Way more long-winded"].

**Disclaimer: Unless you know me well, you’ll probably find the rest of this entry quite boring and/or nonsensical [assuming you don’t already feel that way about the first half of this entry]**

When I was 22, I felt like I had the pieces of my life in place [foolish, I know]. I had a great job lined up, I was already pre-accepted to the MBA program, I had wonderful friends and I was with someone special. It felt like every area of my life was going well and I couldn’t be happier. Then a hand grenade blew up one of those pieces and it shook my world in a way I didn’t know was possible. Oddly enough [well not at all odd in hindsight], it was one of the best things that could have happened to me [only because I learned a lot from it and became the super-me you now all have the privilege of knowing]. It felt like my life took a few steps backward and I was left with a puzzle that didn’t have the right number of pieces.

So over my 23rd year, part of why I was “five years wiser” was because I figured out I didn’t even have all the pieces I needed to begin with [and some of them were the wrong ones]. I also had a clearer picture of what the finished puzzle would look like. What was great over my 24th year was being able to share and use the wisdom I garnered from the previous year [my use of metaphors also improved, although it may not be immediately apparent to you]. There have also been changes in my life that makes the puzzle more whole again. This time around, however, I know the pieces are forever changing and replaceable, and it is the final picture that remains the same. [I'm not trying to rehash the things I've gone through ages ago. I'm merely providing some background information so I can compare my 23rd and 24th year.]

My step toward adulthood [as tiny as it is], comes in the form of moving out of home and sharing life with someone even more special and dear to me. The happiness he brings to my life is something I honestly didn't even dare dream about for fear of being disappointed. I just want to burst everytime I think about how complete he makes me [sappy but true]. I am happy with me and happy with us. This brings me back to why I feel that 25 is young. I am now where I thought I would be 4 years from now. Unlike the time when I was 22, I don’t judge my point in life by the kind or number of pieces of the puzzle that I have, but by the clarity of the overall picture I have in mind.