Well, it happened. I'm 30.....

Like the title says, I’m officially 30 years old now. I never imagined I’d be where I’m at today at 30 years old. I have a wonderful wife of 11 years, a beautiful little girl, a house, a car, and a great job that I’ve had for 10 years now. Every now and again for about the past month I’ve had little pangs of anxiousness about the whole ordeal, but then I think of where I’m at and what all I’ve accomplished so far in my life and I can’t help but be anything but grateful. When I look at the rest of my family, and all of the divorces, bankruptcies, broken family bonds and such, it makes me realize just exactly I was able to escape when I met and married my wife all those many years ago. I’m not trying to sound arrogant; it’s just pretty much how things have gone. Sure, I’ve made my fair share of mistakes, and had my fair share of bad days, but I still think I’m way ahead of where I thought I’d be. Ain’t life somethin’.

Well, enough of my little chit-chat, any other dopers have milestone birthdays coming up? Any of you want to share tales of joy or woe of milestones come and gone? I’m looking forward as always to reading some of the many great stories posted by the dopers of the world.

You are one lucky guy indeed. Don’t ever take any of it for granted. And happy birthday.

Thanks Washoe, much appreciated. And I am one lucky bastard, I know that for sure.

Thirty is so much better than 20, and so so so much better than I was led to believe it would be. I’m 33 now and I’m enjoying my 30s much more.

Happy Birthday!

Wishing you a good day, a good year and a great life.

I too have a birthday today. I am 47.

Happy Birthday :). You have a great attitude which I’m sure has something to do with how well things are turning out for you.

When I hit 30 I was so busy with changing careers from IT to running a shelter and loving the work that I was doing that I barely noticed it, other than to note that I didn’t feel anywhere near as old as I had expected to. Turning 40 had a bigger effect on me in terms of taking stock of where my life was and realizing that I was getting burned out on nonprofit work, didn’t really enjoy it anymore and was setting myself up for major financial problems later in life. I ended up quitting and going back into IT where I’d make good money again and have decent benefits and I’ve limited my nonprofit work to volunteering or consulting.

I’ll turn 50 in September. I’m not dreading it but I have a general WTF feeling of ‘how the hell did I get this old?’ I don’t feel old." I had the chance to retire early a few months ago so now I’m starting this whole new phase of my life and it feels just as exciting as all of the big changes did when I was younger. Better, actually, because after a lifetime of working now I get paid to do nothing. The hardest part for me is convincing myself that my body is half a century old now and that I have to start taking it easier and go slower when I do hard work.

I can’t wait to start demanding my senior discounts while trying to keep a straight face, and I’ve already started collecting cats in preparation for the big event :wink:

You’re right to count your blessings. Enjoy each day.

My brother and his wife married young too, and they’ve now celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. 4 children, one grandchild. All the joys, trials and tribulations of life, and they’re still going strong. You can feel the warmth in their eyes when they look at each other.

They still spend one sinful night in a hotel every month, they’ve done that since the shortly after the birth of their first son. I wouldn’t say this is a recipe for everyone, but my SIL told me that they needed to be alone in order to talk and stay connected as husband and wife, not only live as Mom and Dad. It worked for them.

Moving Target, I wish you a long and happy life together. Like other posters have mentioned on this thread, I enjoyed my 30s and 40s more than my 20s. I’m happy for you, your post had me smiling here.

Thanks to all of you, the blessings and well wishes mean a lot to me. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this board, it’s that you should never take anything for granted. I have so much respect for so many people here. The lifetimes of wisdom, stories, cautionary tales about EVIL FLOATING PRESENCE ABOUT TO KILL YOU, and of course the wonderful new insults and slang terms I’ve learned from reading Pit threads. I’ll be sure to tell each person in my life exactly how much they mean to me today and live it to the fullest.

BTW, I know there are more dopers out there over 30, keep them stories coming, I’m enjoying every one of em.

(EDIT) BTW, Happy Birthday to you too Khadaji, always nice to find a birthday buddy.

I turn 30 in January and I’ve been doing a lot of self improvement in anticipation. I’ve got a better job, a car, lost 60 pounds, all in the last year. Otherwise I knew I couldn’t face turning 30.

But now I’m feeling fine, even happy about leaving my 20s behind. They were hard. I’d never been so lost, hopeless and so drunk as I was in my 20s. My impression was always that the teenage years were the hardest, what with all the hormones. But my 20s were really challenging. I’m really starting to feel comfortable with myself and my life, and I look forward to what lies ahead.

My edit window closed- I just wanted to add congrats to you, MovingTarget on having a happy transition into 30!

>_>

<_<

I read this post, and the gears of my brain twitched a bit in a way that made me think there was something I was forgetting… Well, crap… I’m turning 30 in 2 months. I had completely forgotten how old I was.

Better than that one year when I completely forgot my birthday until moms letter came 2 weeks later…
Anyway, Happy Birthday to ya! I’ll be joining you come March!
(p.s. I hope to get some great mileage off of this fact by presenting it to my brothers that, yes, your baby brother is in fact 30 now… :D)

My 80 year old mother feels that she can’t possibly be old enough to have daughters as old as we are so she wants us to promise that we’ll dye the gray out of our hair whenever we’re around her until she dies. I think she’s having our mid-life crisis for us.

Happy Birthday.

30 seems so young to me. I didn’t even get married until I was 32, or have my child until I was almost 39. Ahhhh to be 30 again.

I will be 44 two months from today.

Enjoy your 30s. It was a great decade for me!

Um, I’ll be 20 next month. It’s not that bad, is it?

But if I make it through another decade, I’d like to be in the same state of mind as you, MovingTarget. Congratulations on what you’ve acheived.

Ugh - I’ll be 30 on Thursday, and I’m nowhere near as happy about it! Part of me is glad to leave my 20s behind - I was lost and confused for a lot of them, and wandered about with little purpose.

But, at 30 I am still in school, I don’t have a job, I still rent and have roommates, and I am single and have been for years. I am trying to improve things, specifically by going back to school, but it will be years before I am done and until then I will be pretty much broke and living the student lifestyle. I fear I will be single for even longer than that.

So, do count your blessings that you are happy at this junction. It could be a lot worse!

Happy Birthday, MovingTarget! (And everyone else with a birthday around now too.)

I’m coming up on 30 later this month as well. I’m feeling pretty good about it. But I enjoyed my 20s a lot so I’m kind of sad to see that decade end.

But on the other hand, I got married two years ago to a really wonderful guy. We bought a house this past January. We’ve lived here for more than 2 years and we’re finally making friends and building a community. We both like our jobs, although there are layoff rumors at his company, but we’re in a position where we could live on my salary alone for a while if we have to.

Life really is pretty good right now, and I think the next decade will be as much fun as the last one.

Congrats!

I passed that milestone earlier this year on my 10k summer road trip. I was in Seattle near the time, visiting a buddy. I left Seattle and spent the day in the Olympic Peninsula.

I don’t really celebrate b-days that often.

All I can say is – the best is yet to come! Yesterday I met an elderly man while on a hike. He was sitting on a tree stump and I said hello and then we chatted. He’s 81 and didn’t look it! So I asked him what’s his secret and he talked about good diet and having a pleasant outlook on life. Then he said: “Yesterday’s history, tomorrow’s a mystery, and today’s a blessing.” So true, so very true. Age is just a number; you’re as young as you want to be.