Happy 28th birthday to me!

I remember envisioning what my life would be like when I hit 28 years of age. I think I'm pretty much where I thought I'd be: happily married, living in a house, and generally settled with life. The only difference is that I thought my career would be much more important to me than it is now. Rather than being an ambitious career woman and the bread winner of the family, I am looking forward forward to retiring early and being a housewife (albeit a highly and expensively educated housewife who hates house chores).

Of course, things will change and I can't base what my future is like on this sliver of time. But we've been very fortunate the past few years and were able to enjoy some luxuries in life that neither of us dared to expect. Since life is always full of ups and downs, I do expect rough waters ahead. I'm neither a "half-empty" nor "half-full" type of person; I'm just a realist. Fact: the glass contains 50% air and 50% water.

It seemed as though it's always been really easy to look ahead and guess what life would be like in 5-10 years. However, I can't fathom where I would be in my mid to late 30s. Maybe I never bothered to look past 28. Maybe there are fewer milestones to look forward to after my 20s. Or, maybe I'm mature enough to realize that it's not about seeing what's ahead of you, but what's around you.