Goodbye Twenties!

via Neal on Flickr

 Hit the big 3-0 a couple weeks ago. This post is kind of late, but that sort of happens when you get older. Time changes. Some sort of flux or continuum with space or something. Steven Hawking knows. I tried to read a book about it but it was too hard. But you can do it and tell me about it, ok?

I wanted to recap my twenties and sort of put them to rest and move on. So here are the highlights from my roaring twenties:

• I worked in Jasper and met my best friend Meredith there. She's a legend. I tell Duncan often how much I love her, and I love that I have a strong female friendship that's not littered with bitterness and cattiness like all those other bitches.
• I went to school for stupid computer programming and am still paying for that education. Bloody hell. It's enough to get me started on an uneducated socialist rant.
• I lived in a funny apartment building in Winnipeg that was full of weirdos and people that should have been homeless. But they lived there, in their homes. Our neighbour Jerry once lit his underwear on fire. He was wearing them. I learned that, to me, Winnipeg is a depressing city that offered little hope or joy.
• I moved to Vancouver. I was happy. Finally.
• My boyfriend I was living with died from lymphoma in a matter of weeks. It changed me. I became bitter and cynical and drank too much. I learned about grief and mourning, and how sporadic and senseless and confusing emotions can be.
• I traveled a bit. I learned I was bad at traveling. It makes me sleepy and I just want to live everywhere I go. Especially if there's hammocks.
• I got a lovely little niece, Leta. I learned that watching a child run is like watching pure joy. That kid loves to run so much. WAIT TILL YOU'RE 30, KID! Running is the worst. You don't even know.
• I met Duncan and fell in love. He had a beard at the time. He is the nicest and sweetest and kindest person ever. The only time he gets mad is when he flosses his teeth or when Marley interrupts his sandwich making. That's it. On my 30th birthday card he wrote "30's are the best. That's when I met you." I think through his kindness he's trying to make me not bitter and cynical and unpleasant, but it's not going to work. Or maybe it will. If we got a puppy. Or a baby. 

In conclusion, a lot of my life happened in my 20s. But not enough. I don't have a horse or a house or a boat. I don't know how to tie all the knots I'd like to tie. I haven't been to an observatory. I've never seen a penguin or a mobster in a track suit. I haven't made a ship in a bottle. I've never had a souffle or played in a jazz band. I don't know how to fly a helicopter. I can't golf. I have not lived up to my potential. So I'll do that later on.