Sunday, August 17, 2008

Twenty-Five

It's Gene Kelly day on TCM. Of course it is. It's my birthday. And my dead boyfriend wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm 25. Finally. In some ways, I've been almost 25 since I was 16. And yet, this morning, as I was staring at a pimple that screamed 15-year-old, not 25-year-old, I felt a slight heaviness settling in my chest. There is no more novelty in my age. I am no longer that spring chicken, that 18-year-old academic prodigy, that 21-year-old head trainer at work. Nope. I'm just one of those twenty-somethings wandering about, trying to scrape some dreams together and figure out this thing called life.

I've decided that 25 will be an adventure, not a crisis. It's going to be exciting. Because while no longer 18, I still have nothing to lose. I can still dream big, risk big, love big and fail big. And I'm not going to break if I fall. Maybe bruise a little. But a little heartache and disappointment can provide some great writing material....

This year, I'm going to write. A lot. I want to chronicle what it is to embrace the quarter-life. And I don't want to forget 25, messiness and all.


Happy birthday to Robert De Niro, Sean Penn and Donnie Wahlberg. We should have a joint party next year.

4 comments:

Silas said...

happy birthday nadine! make 25 an adventure... each and every day!

michael lewis said...

Happy Birthday!

I remember when I turned 25, which was almost 10 years ago now! I was living in Canmore and working at a little independent hotel, amidst all the big chain hotels.

Didn't really do much, but my co-workers and I did go to Wendy's for Frosty's®, and that was where we saw this guy who was a dead-ringer for Dave Thomas! I even got my picture taken with him. But those were film days, and I have nothing by which to prove my story.

However, 25 was an adventurous year for me! Not only had I just finished my two years at a rural Saskatchewan bible college, I had just moved to the Rockies. Later that year, I did several things I had never done before: flew several times (destinations included: Ontario, Winnipeg twice and Saskatoon), once took a 56 hour bus ride from Calgary to London, also finally went to Vancouver, Seattle, and swam in the Pacific Ocean, eventually moved to Calgary, and finally: started a new education and maintained a 3.9 GPA. I think that I did quite a bit that year. But now, 10 years later, I think that I've blended 25 and 26 into one year....forgive my failing memory!

Walking Church said...

Yes indeed - Happy Birthday ! ! !

A Whopping 25 - I scarcely recall those days. I will be twice that by month's end. Regrets I have a few.

Sage advice from an old timer:

- Most things are fixable in life - especially relationships...and stuff.

- Life is full of short movies (or seasons) meaning you have your diaper years; your getting on the yellow bus years; young teen in high school years; falling in and out of love years; getting hitched; your baby comes and who the heck is this in my bed years; blah..blah..blah.

- always keep your eyes on Jesus and let Him have your heart in every way while not looking too closely at others as they will disappoint you every time!

Hope you have many, many more candles in the years to come. Celebrate and do a jig today -cause you can!

Katie V. said...

Glad to see you took a bit of a blog break for your birthday. Hopefully I will embrace the quarter life without crisis like you have (even if I haven't finished school....). I look forward to reading the planned plethora of written word this year.