young enough to know the right car to buy, yet grown enough not to put rims on it

La Bocca della Verita

Italian Resturant in Chicago

It is 4 months before my 30th birthday. I like aging. Really, I do (so far so good). I like it because I get further away from the mistakes I made in the past.

However 30 feels different. It feels like it's got clout. It feels like before turning 30 I need to be able to "back it up". As a little girl, and even a younger woman I had grand aspirations for 30. I imagined like most little girls:

• a perfect husband (insert gorgeous, successful sweetheart here)
• perfect children (insert well-mannered, healthy, green-eyed darlings here)
• a perfect career (insert paid well for my hard work as a drama therapist here)
• a well-kempt green-lawn (insert manicured grass here)
• and a mortgage (insert huge bill for charming bungalow in a nice part of the city here)

Turns out I've accomplished nada on that list.

• I rent a 2 bedroom apartment
• If I was a drinker, my job is the kind of job to drive you to it (actually it would drive you well past "drink" and straight to "drunk")
• I don't even have a pet.

In order not to focus on the above list, I need a list more maneagable. 4 months is not long to accomplish all the above things, therefore the "New 30" list was born. And I must accomplish it in 4 months, but the best part about the New 30 is that I don't have to depend on mortgage companies, realtors, supervisors, the stork or a man to accomplish it.

The New 30

• Forgive myself for my 20's (and hope that others forgive me)
• Learn how to make my great-grandmother's cinnamon rolls & my mama's sugar cookies
• Finish 3 books on my upcoming "staycation"
• Finish paying off debt
• Quit taking everything personally
• Forget about preconceptions about what I should have "accomplished" by 30.
• Quit counting my divorce as my own personal failure
• Quit "keeping score" "taking data" on myself
• Go to the Rivermarket grocery
• Look for a new(er) vehicle & save downpayment
• Talk to my boss about a raise
• Keep in better touch with my grandparents (1 letter per month)

title courtesy of JayZ - 30 something