I turn 30 tomorrow.

I’m not upset about it. I’m not thrilled about it either, but I’m not seeing it as a source of impending doom.

Here’s the thing. I don’t FEEL thirty. Most days, I find myself realizing that I still feel like the shy, quiet, bookworm from high school. I still get nervous around new people, I still have low self-esteem and don’t think I’m good enough, and I still get anxious at the thought of doing something scary. But I am this old.

If you’d asked me ten years ago what my life would be like now, I would have said I’d be married with two kids, teaching high school band.

Well, 1 out of 3 isn’t bad.

If you’d asked me five years ago what my life would be like now, I would have said writing for a television soap opera, living in Manhattan, still going to gay bars with my male gay friends, and preparing to adopt my daughter from China.

Well, I still go to gay bars with my friends when I go back to NYC to visit them.

I never pictured that I’d be living in the midwest, happily married to the greatest guy in the world. After college, I never expected to get married. I’ve never been ‘pretty’ the way that other girls are pretty, and I’ve always felt self-conscious about myself. That’s why I gave myself a backup plan - I’d find a kick-ass job, and when the biological clock started screaming, I’d go over to China and adopt my daughter.

I may still be going to China to adopt, but this time, it’ll be with my husband.

Five years ago, if you’d shown me my life at 30 as what it is now, I would have been terrified of it. Now…I’m pretty damn happy. I’m happy with my marriage, happy with my job, happy with my life. I may not have kids yet, and I may not be writing for a soap opera, but I have two cute cats that welcome me home every night, and I actually look forward to going to work in the mornings.

And you know, if I look at it that way, 30 isn’t such a bad age after all. I’m kind of looking forward to the rest of the year.

E.

Well, congratulations! At age 30 you’ll finally be an adult. Oh, I know what they say about 21 and all, but looking back (I’m 40), I think age 30 is when a person really settles down and becomes an adult. :slight_smile:

Dayum…

I saw 30 23 years ago.

You have much more water to run under your bridge.

Yeah, I’m not feeling very settled or adult yet, but maybe something’ll click :smiley: .

My husband’s two years younger than I am, and when he was teasing me the other day about turning thirty, I said “You’ll be thirty in two years!”

He immediately shot back “Yeah, and you’ll be thirty-two.”. :dubious:

Reeder, I don’t believe it. I thought you were mid-thirties.

E.

Thirty’s not so bad. But you’d better hurry up, you only have a few years and months left until you are one third of a century old.
There, I’m sure that helped cheer her up.

Yes, and always remember, there is something worse than turning 30 - not turning 30.

I felt just the same way. That was almost eight years ago, and I’m still not sure if I *feel * 30 now.

I’m just afraid that it’s going to catch up with me all at once some day, and I’ll wake up feeling 90.

Happy Birthday, and welcome to the club!

When I turned 40 (I’m 41 now), I didn’t feel like 40, either. I was still the same person I was when I was 18. Wiser, sure. A little less energy. Not as much drive. But basically the same person. I still giggle and laugh at the same things. Still read the same kinds of books, still play video games, etc.

Before she died, I had a chat with my grandmother in which she confided in me that sometimes she felt exactly like the little girl she was 70 years before. She said that sometimes it was a shock to look in the mirror and see an old face looking back at her, because she still pictured herself as she was half a century earlier.

I think we come to think of old people as ‘different’ because by outward appearances, they are. Their voices sound old, they look old, they move slower, they perhaps have slight tremors, and in general they look like something different than what we are. But that’s just a mask. Look at how surprised you were to find out that Reeder is in his 50’s. There are lots of dopers on here older than he is, and I’ll bet you couldn’t guess half of them. There are some in their 70’s who sound just like anyone else, and maybe some even older.

I think the internet has a way of shattering age barriers that will change the way we relate to older people in time. And I wouldn’t be surprised to find more and more older people going online - where they are totally equal with everyone else and can be themselves without having to ‘act their age’.

Happy birthday, Elza! I think you will find that life is what happens when you’re not looking. I thought I’d be a published author by now or a practicing attorney.

As it is, I’m sliding down the back side of 30, realizing that this year I will no longer be in my mid-30s but most definitely in my late 30s.

Dammit, I don’t feel this old.

After 21 the birthdays don’t really matter any more.

I turned 31 this month. I’m now 31 years, 2 weeks, and 6 days old.

30 was a pretty good year for me–I hope it is for you, too.

And I know what you mean about not feeling 30. I still feel 16 a lot of the time. My mom tells me that that sense of not really being your chronological age doesn’t diminish with time. She says that, if anything, the gap between the age you are and the age you feel you are gets bigger and bigger with time.

Happy birthday, Elza B.

Thirty is a very good age. You’re old enough to see some of your dreams realized but not too old to feel you can reach for even more.

Happy birthday! When I turned 30 (over 7 years ago), I went white-water rafting for the first time in my life. Gotta commemorate the milestone somehow.

Recently, for some reason I’ve always found myself overestimating my age by a year: when I was 36 I kept thinking I was 37, and now I keep thinking I’m 38 although that won’t happen until September.

I have a great-aunt in her 90s who has expressed shock at seeing the old woman in the mirror. My late grandmother used to say the same thing. It seems there’s some border we cross beyond which we don’t really recognize ourselves in the mirror anymore. I’m happy to report I’m not there yet; the face in the mirror still looks like the one I had at 18 (or at 7), though occasionally I have to admit there’s more bulk there now.

My 30s have been very good to me. I haven’t outgrown my nerdiness so much as caught up with it and accepted it as part of who I am. I am much more comfortable in my own skin than I was even 10 years ago. Part of the credit for this goes to my wife, but I chalk a lot of it up to age. Though I’m not eager to be 40, so far it’s been better going forward than it would have been in reverse.

“Last day, Capricorn 15’s. Year of the city, 2355. Renewel begins … .”

Are you kidding me? What’s the best part about birthdays? PRESENTS!:slight_smile:

I’m hoping my husband will surprise me with a new digital camera today (he did go to Best Buy for my gift, so maybe…). And I’ve already gotten a gift of quilting classes from my mother-in-law that start in early March! Yay!

(Yes, I’m 30 and still excited about presents…sue me;)).

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes, all. I still don’t FEEL thirty, but I’m relieved to know it’s normal. I’ve already gotten a few kitty-kisses (best gift besides kisses from my husband), phone calls, and I got to sleep late. Hey, if this is thirty, so far, I like it.

E.

Oh, I never said give up the gifts. :wink:

You can just say you’re celebrating the ninth anniversary of your 21st birthday.