I just turned 30 a few days ago and while I don't feel that different, I have thought about a number of things. Ten years ago, I was in college and began a 365-day countdown to 21 on my AIM profile. At that time, I knew exactly who I was going to marry, in what my subject my degree would be, where I wanted to work afterward, when I was going to get married, etc. The only thing I didn't know, then, was who was going to take me out for my 21st birthday because I was the first of my friends to turn 21, save a good friend who did not yet drink at the time. Anyway, I just KNEW that by 30 I'd be old and married and a mother with a great job making a lot of money with my aerospace engineer husband.
Ten years is a large period of time, during which many many changes can take place.
I still work entry-level. I've dated the same guy for almost 9 years and there is no proposal on the horizon. I am childless, though I should also say that I am HAPPILY childless. When I reached about 23 or 25, I realized that I did not want children in my 20s. I think that was a wise decision, though I didn't really have a choice seeing as though I am still unmarried. I wanted to be married before 30 (but not much before), so that's goal number one unattained. I wanted to own my home before I was 30, so that's goal number two unattained. I EXPECTED to be working in my desired career field (much) before I was 30, so that's goal number three unattained. I planned on traveling to England and "accidentally" running into Prince William so that we could begin our fairy-tale romance, so there goes goal number four as well. Those unattained goals are really the only things I've felt down about since turning 30.
However, I've also thought about things I heard/said/did/experienced throughout my life onto which I still hold even though it's silly to do so. This part isn't deep. This is really thinking about those silly things that happened to you when you were a child that still influence your decision-making 25 years later. This is the fun part of turning 30. Thus I present to you...
Silly Childhood Crap That Continues to Influence Me Even Though I Know It's Silly Childhood Crap:
1. I'm quite reluctant to give you a bite of whatever I'm eating.
REASON: When I was about 5, I was about to enjoy a rare chocolate Little Debbie cake while sitting in my dad's lap. He asked for a bite and being the Daddy's Girl I am, I wholeheartedly offered him a bite even though I had not yet had one myself. He ate the whole thing, except that which my tiny girl hands were still gripping. I threw the last crescent at his chest and ran into my room where I cried on my bed. My mean Daddy had just eaten the ONE treat I was going to get that night and we NEVER had treats like Little Debbie cakes in the house! To this day he says that the only reason he did that was because he knew that we had more in the kitchen and that I was going to get BOTH cakes in the package instead of the one I was normally allowed to have. I still think he was doing it just to be mean, the drive behind the motivations of most boys.
2. I hate it if someone says my whole name--first, middle, last.
REASON: Kids are mean and want to upset you in any way possible. My 3 names flow together nicely and can get a nice rhythm. What that means is that it's easily chanted in a taunting manner. The kids at my babysitter's house did that...a lot. Such teasing usually came after my brother started it because he was a jerk. Still, I would cry and yell at them to stop, which just made them chant my name louder. Now, I like my name. I like my first name, I like my middle name, I like my last name, and I like how they flow together. All the kids were doing was saying my name. This simple act of saying my name, however, used to piss me off. So, to this day, I don't like hearing my name with any sort of rhythm.
3. I will usually side with the younger sibling.
REASON: I was the younger sibling. I hated my older brother because he could hit me, kick me, be mean to me, tease me, invite me to play before leaving me, restart the Nintendo when I was playing, invite me to play Super Mario Brothers then pause the game when I was jumping over something so that when he unpaused it I would fall to my death and lose a life that I was going to lose shortly anyway because I was a freaking 7-year-old girl playing as Luigi...and it would somehow be my fault and I was always asked, "Well what did you DO to make your brother hit you, kick you, be mean to you, tease you, etc.?" Thus, I tend to side with the younger sibling in most arguments.
4. I'm secretly terrified of escalators.
REASON: When I was young, my parents used to tell me that you could get really hurt by the escalator so I was always scared of getting on and off. Getting on to go down was especially terrifying b/c there's a chance you could go to step on and miss or the stair is going far faster than you really think and you could go flying forward and down the escalator to your certain death. Add this to the time my mom got on without waiting for me (I was probably 6 or 7) and rode it all the way down and I was just too scared to get on and I had visions of staying at the top of the escalator forever while my Mom didn't realize I wasn't there and went on without me just before a kidnapper came and got me and I would never see my family again. Luckily some nice lady held my hand and guided me down the escalator where my mother thankfully DID wait for me and I was not kidnapped. This could have been a really big deal.
5. I keep all of my credit receipts.
REASON: On an episode of ALF, the family got audited. It looked like quite the traumatic experience. I said that would never happen to me and if it did, I'd be prepared. So I had every credit/check receipt that I received from the age of 16 until about 27. Today, I'll get rid of them once a year--to make room for the next year's receipts. It's still quite hard b/c WHAT IF?! Forget that I claim nothing, have no dependents, etc.
There is no reason why any self-respecting 30 year old should still think these ways but I do.
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