Pretty much my life is over.

When I was about 14 or so, in my infinite and mature wisdom, I told my older sister, who was then in her early twenties, that your life is pretty much over when you're 28, unless you are married, have children, and I believe I conceded to including a career in the list of exceptions also. Although I may not have. My sister thinks it was actually when she was turning 28, but I am pretty firm in my belief that when I was 21 I would never have said such a thing. Especially since it was only a few years from me by then. But at 14, it was still another 14 years away, twice the amount of time I'd already lived, so I'm confident I'm right about my age. Also, I think I still had a crush on Jamie Howard at that point, and that was a pretty serious amount of time ago.

Anyway, needless to say, everyone in my family thought this was hilarious and have been waiting with baited breath for the day I would turn 28 so they could tease me mercilessly. It happened to be this past Saturday. I feel reasonably safe in assuring everyone that I do not, indeed, find my life to be over. Though it's given me the opportunity to reflect on my life now, and think about where I thought I would be at my age, even from just a few years ago. I won't go into anything big and philosophical right this minute, but I will say that things turned out really differently than I had thought they would. Some things make a little sad, (for instance, the lack of travel after college sucks, badly) but most things I don't regret.

One of these things is my wonderful group of friends. I have a small group of very close friends, and I can't tell you how terrific these people are. My dear friend Holly called me from Africa to sing happy birthday (unfortunately to my voicemail). My childhood best friend Lindsey sent me flowers which were waiting for me on the doorstep when I got home from work today. (That was the first time anyone's ever sent me flowers by the way, and let me tell you, if you haven't gotten anyone to do this for you, I highly recommend it. It was awesome.) My darling Lesley wrote me a beautiful card with some of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me in it. And these are just a few examples, there were several other sweet, thoughtful cards and phone calls. I'm overwhelmed by how highly my friends think of me. They were so considerate, each one, and I can't believe I'm the luckiest girl alive to know and befriend such kind people. So thank you, everyone, for your thoughts and wishes.

And a super big thanks to my sister Nina, and my mom and dad, who made it an extra special day for me and bought me lots of nice things. It was great to play frisbee with you in the backyard Ginny. We'll have to get doubles thing going next time. And I want to see more of that pterodactyl move you've got going on.