Next Thursday, November 26, is my half-birthday. In case you were unaware, the “half-birthday” is the six-month anniversary until your next birthday (or, if you are a pessimist, it’s the six months after your last terrible birthday).
Really, the half-birthday is just an excuse to buy yourself half a cake and mess up the rhythm of 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” (“Hey shorty / It’s your half-birthday / We’re gonna party like it’s your half-birthday”).
But for me, this half-birthday is going to be different. Because on November 26, 2009 (also Thanksgiving), I will be turning 24.5. And 24.5 rounds up to 25. And 25 rounds up to 30. And 30 rounds up to death. Seriously, that’s how it works.
They say your twenties are supposed to be the best years of your life. It’s true. When you’re in your twenties, you can still make bad life decisions (BLDs) and just blame it on “being young.” And for the first few years, I definitely took advantage of my twenties. Then, all of a sudden, I turned 23 and became an elderly woman. I’m not quite sure what happened. It started when I began watching more HGTV… and then, boom, just like a gateway drug, I found myself losing control. I started DVRing episodes of House Hunters and Property Virgins. I started drinking milk, because I’d seen commercials about osteoporosis. I started finding great excuses not to go out on weekends (laundry, cleaning my apartment, swine flu). One night, a friend stayed over and pulled a box of cookies out of my bed. I keep them there for late night snacking.
My A&E Intervention moment came when I saw myself sprawled out on the couch, a blanket wrapped around my shoulders, sipping warm milk and avidly watching Dancing With the Stars.
So this Thanksgiving, as I’m turning 24.5 = 25 = closer to fifty than to birth, I’ll be embarking on the last best years of my life. But I can’t even begin to think about what I should do over the next 5.5 years. I’m already past my prime when it comes to partying like it’s my birthday. I have a friend who started creating a bucket list for what she wants to do before she turns 30. Me? I just want to eat cookies in bed and watch couples fight over townhouses in Canada.
But every once in a while, I do get the urge to go out, to be young again, and to make BLDs at Joshua Tree. And hey, I still have six months left in my early twenties. That’s definitely something to be thankful for.
