Friday, March 5, 2010

what was i thinking?

Yesterday was my birthday.

I'm...twenty-seven.

*Sigh.*

A few days ago, my sister got accepted to nurse practitioner school. I would make a big hoop-la and congratulate her endlessly on the blog, but we were all expecting her to get in. She has an excellent job, and she made a 4.0 in college. It was a given!

Anyway, because of the large number of applicants, and because she expressed an interest in the part-time program, she was accepted into only the part-time program. She was glad to be accepted, but I think she was a little bummed. She'll have to go to school for three years instead of the two she'd planned on. "I'll be twenty-seven when I get out of school," she told my Mom. The tone in her voice said, That's just so old! 

In a way, it is old. I remember being a senior in high school, thinking that by the time I was 25 I'd be married and have a few kids already. Ha! What was I thinking?

It's strange how often that's a theme in my life. I lived in Yocum Hall for five semesters. Gross! What was I thinking? I repeatedly dated idiots throughout high school and college. Stupid! What was I thinking? When I was sixteen, I requested AND received a 1995 Ford Probe. What on EARTH was I thinking? When that Ford Probe's battery died, my then-boyfriend and I tried to jump the car and hooked up the battery cables backwards, blowing every fuse in the car! What was I thinking?

I think those moments are critical, though. Without those what was I thinking moments, would I be too prideful? Too confident? Too judgmental? Probably yes, yes and yes. So, I'm happy for the failures and the moments of idiocy.

Look at me. I'm so much older and wiser!*

*I'll bet you ten bucks that on my 35th birthday, I'll look back at this post and say, What was I thinking?

8 comments:

  1. Happy late birthday...facebook fail on my part apparently.

    I'll be 31 next month, on the 20th. Think of how I feel!

    And I have entirely too many of those "what was I thinking?" moments to reflect back on...I try not to reflect back on them at all as a result.

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  2. The PROBE! Oh yes. And what was so hilarious was that your then boyfriend scored almost perfectly on the ACT and yet he didn't know how to jump a car. HA!

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  3. Leah, I feel your pain! I too thought that at 25 I would be married and done with school! How wrong I was! Instead I will be 27 and just barely done with school (graduation April 2), not married, no job, and no kids! I often tease that by the time I get to the point in my life that I am ready to start a family my eggs will need a walker to get down the fallopian tube! But somehow, maybe, it's okay. Everything works out, eventually, right?

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  4. I lived in Yocum for 4 semesters...what's not to love about fighting over 4 disgusting tiny showers with 40-something girls :)

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  5. Emily, I know. It's the perfect real-life example of book smarts not equaling practical smarts.

    Jennifer, I lived on a co-ed floor in Yocum. It. Was. Gross. The day I moved in, I put a pair of jeans in a drawer. Later that day, I put those jeans on. A few seconds later, I shoved my hand in the pocket and pulled out a giant cockroach. It's a good thing I was excited about college. If I'd had any doubts, I would've high-tailed it back home immediately!

    At least I have funny stories to tell!

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  6. Oh, Leah, you know that those semesters in Yocum were the best ever! Otherwise, how would you have met me!?

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  7. Those "What was I thinking?" dates are the ones that let us FULLY appreciate the person we're with now! :-) Without the mistakes, we wouldn't know when we truly have achieved greatness. (Don't let Ross know I am calling him "greatness"!)

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