Happy Birthday to Me

I turned 30 years old this weekend. The number actually doesn’t bother me. Turning 27 bothered me, actually, because I wasn’t sure where my life was really heading; it felt like I was treading water in ways that aren’t relevant now. For example, at the time, I wasn’t sure if I was going to have children, and my professional life was in a bit of an upheaval. At 30, though, I have a career I like, a daughter who is happy and a joy to watch grow and two silly dogs. I’m very happy with where I am, and I look forward to the joys and challenges in the future.

So, in that sense, my birthday this weekend was irrelevant to my life… except that I threw myself a party because I haven’t had a birthday celebration with anyone except a significant other since I was a kid, and I only remember one of those. It was really an excuse for cake and board games with a small group of people. Does it mean that I’m old if my sense of a good party is one that lets me go to bed early?

In addition to throwing myself a party, I got tickets to see John Barrowman, who’s coming into town for the NCComicon. I’ll get to meet and greet with him, which I am very hopeful will be very entertaining. I absolutely loved him on Torchwood and like watching him now on Arrow. The clips of him I’ve seen in interviews make me giddy in anticipation of next week. I hope to get to see some of his comedic flare and very loose sense of “appropriate.” I find his openness delightful (or he at least seems to be open. I guess it may be impossible to know how much of such a thing is “real” with anyone who’s in the entertainment industry).

There will certainly be challenges in the year to come, but I hope that overall next year I am in a better, even in just slightly better, place than I am now. Every year may not necessarily be a step forward, but the general direction is forward and up. I am better off now that I was five years ago, and I was better off then than five years before that. Hooray for improvement, however gradual.