Birthday Number 29

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Today is my 29th birthday.

I’m entering my 30th year of life and I have mixed feelings about that.

On the one hand I am in shock. One more year of my 20s to go (something I realised only this morning), and I swear I’m still a lot younger. I can’t believe that I’m turning 29 when just yesterday (it seems) I was complaining about P.E Class in Year 9, or handing in yet another Year 13 Art assignment. It seems like last week that I started my first year at University and had to learn how to write a Uni-worthy essay and cram for exams. Perhaps I’m still 8 years old, running around the back yard with my neighbours, getting muddy, or jumping over hay bales, or swimming the eel-infested creek (true story).

But I’m not. I’m here in Auckland, a city I swore I would never live in, still single and living at home (because one must when one chooses to have a part time job in New Zealand‘s most expensive city), having spent 29 years on this planet that is crumbling before my eyes.

One the other hand … I’ve lived for 29 years on this beautiful planet, in one of the most stunning parts of the world! I have lived in three countries, travelled to 21, made it through high school and university, got a degree and paid it off. I’ve started (and kept!) a blog, I’ve made friends both online and off, I’ve started a podcast with a friend and I have learnt so much about publishing and books through all these ventures. I’ve found a community in Auckland that I absolutely love to bits and even though I said I would never live here, I think I’m thriving in this city, and while many places around the world are ‘home’ to me, this is definitely one of them (though I’m still slow to say it).

So while this may be the last year of my 20s, I’m going to live it like any other, because who knows what 30 will bring. Not only have I made it this far, I have so much more life to go and things to do and to be.

Ladies and gentlemen, please raise a glass with me: to 2020 and to 29. Let’s do this.