April 24th

So, tomorrow is my 30th birthday.

(I don't actually feel freaked out about this fact, but this little picture of 7-year-old me just seemed like a good one to add to the post tonight)

It is an interesting thing to look back over the past decade and realize all that has changed, all that has been accomplished, all that has remained the same.

In the spirit of decades of living, I give you a glimpse into who I am, where I've been, and all that other poetic mumbojumbo. I give you Exhibit A--Katy Turns 10. This is an authentic journal entry from my very own pen...er...pencil. Prepare for greatness. Written two weeks before I turned ten years old. *ahem*

4-10-90

Today, it's excatly 2 weeks untill my birthday and I'm excited. I have a big honkin' list too. Let's see. I want a fanny pack and I want some fabric paints and T-shirts and I also want Olivia and a lot of other things too. Today we also went a little shopping for Andria and we haven't found a present yet. Well my arm is getting tired.

Good Night

We must get just one thing straight: Fanny packs were cool at the time. I swear it's true. :-) And by fabric paints, I meant puffy paints. I wanted the puffiest, neon-ist, sparkli-est puffy paints known to man. As I recall, though I don't have the journal entry to prove it, many of these dreams came true. I did get a fanny pack (it was a neon salmonesque color), my very own set of puffy paints, and Olivia. The stuffed orangutan. Life was very good.

Fast forward ten years. I was about to turn 20 years old.

Although there is a journal entry on my actual birthday that year, it's not terribly interesting. I use the word "anyhoo" no less than three times, too-ta-loo, and seem very fond of the phrase "what in heck am I doing". This was a confusing time in my life for me. I still lived at home and yearned for adulthood yet felt woefully underqualified to be a grownup. Solid, old friendships were changing at a time when new friendships were not abounding in my world. I was nearing the end of my sophomore year in college, ever closer to the ominous end of spring quarter when I would have to declare a major.

That quarter, I was taking a career development class (this was one of two classes in college I had with my brother and we had a delightfully cute little career teacher...what was her name...Carol? I think her name was Carol. I remember she had nervous little mannerisms and was intimidated by things like running the overhead projector). We took personality quizzes that suggested career options befitting of our traits, talents, and skills. I found the suggestion to be a "vending machine repairman" less than helpful.

Although I remember the uncertainty I felt about the future ahead of me, I also remember feeling that surely in the next few years things were going to pan out and someday, somehow I would feel like a real adult. Oh...how cute I was.

And now, here we are. I am turning 30 tomorrow.

Who knows what I will see in me today when I look back in ten years. I like to think I will see a me that despite uncertainty about the future (a me who realizes there is never certainty in the future...), is happy about what lies before her.

And seriously, fanny packs were totally in.