How do it feel being 30? Cause i'll be there in two trying to find something exciting to do on that day.

I can't remember what I was doing on that day (so so long ago) but I don't think I had any special celebration for it.

I do know that I was still playing in a power pop new wave band when I hit thirty.

Tank (who doesn't really remember 30, but he does now that he could still eat anything he wanted to back then)

I just hit 30 a couple of weeks ago. I was... less than happy about it. Mostly because I feel like I've spent my entire 20s on medical leave. I'd have been okay, perhaps even happy, with 30 if I'd felt that I'd accomplished things - gotten closer to where I wanted to be in life.

So I took the weekend off from reality. Got together with a dear friend I don't see too often, checked into a nice hotel, told everyone else (family and friends) that I was going away and would be available for emergencies only, and just had fun. Toured around, saw some shows, explored parts of the city I'd hardly (if ever) seen, and thrived off my friend's wide-eyed, enthusiastic, fresh response to the city and its sights. Best birthday ever.

And now that I'm past it... I'm back into my old habits as if nothing happened. In the end, it's just a number. Another milestone. And it only means as much as you (choose to) let it mean.

Mine's in less than three weeks.

malu

Happy almost luvessuper97. I have to agree with Paul, that it is a just a number and milestone but should definitely be appreciated and celebrated. My own 30th was bittersweet as it did end up being the last I got to share, at least in person, not really in mind, with my beloved Grandmother before she passed on later that year.

These days, sure there are moments I definitely feel "old" and like most everyone wish for a quicker resolution to some things especially finding my Mr. Right aka Clark, but I'm just thankful to be both happy and healthy.

Mona

I passed 30 more than eleven years ago, so I barely remember it. I'm not much for celebrating or mourning birthdays, making it much like any other day.

I'm like Tank - can't really remember 30. I don't think I did anything special. It was just another day. Now 40... That was a different matter.

I'll be 30 in October and my best friend and I are thinking about going to the beach to celebrate both of our birthdays. She'll turn 35 the day before I turn 30.

Now...only if I could find my Clark.

I turned 30 a few months ago. It's scary, really. I've spent most of my 20s trying to realize that I really am an adult. I'm married, I have a mortgage, I have bills and responsibilities and all this other stuff that, when I stop to think about it, I realize that I think my parents should still be taking care of all that because I'm too young! Now I'm 30, I'm finally feeling like an adult, but now I'm baffled (and scared) by the realization that this is my life now, and my job is probably what I'll be doing for a good long time now.

The really scary parts is when I compare my life to my parents' lives when they were 30. They were married, had 2 kids, had a house, and in their 30th years, sold said house and got a divorce. Thank goodness I'm not my parents.

I didn't hit thirty as much as I just whizzed past it. Thirty-five hit me hard, though, because I started thinking about all the things I hadn't done yet that I thought I should have accomplished by then, and the thought that my life was half-over stunned me. Of course, that was <*cough-hack-cough*> years ago, and I've managed to accomplish most of the things on my "haven't done yet" list.

The thing that I think is more important than doing all those things, though, is that I've learned to roll with the punches and get up again, even if the bell has rung and the ref has called a TKO. I just tell myself that I'll get it right the next time. And, surprisingly, I have at times done just that.

So don't get all frazzled by a number. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and follow your nose.

Terry (who knows that the above advice is simplistic, but sometimes simple is better than complex)

Damned if I can remember - that was 25 years ago!

hatman.... i'll take your advise and mostly just live life. I was Just asking cause, i have downers at work and boy did they made me feel old. But I don,t want that. and as of the rest of the guys thank you for yours as well. I'll try to live it up in two weeks.LOL

It pretty much felt the same as turning 29, kwim? That was about a year and a half ago, for me. I think it's like Paul said, it only means as much as you choose to let it mean.

Happy almost birthday




Tara

Oh to be dreading my 30th birthday again! I just had my second 30th birthday -- you know, that one that happens 30 years after the first one.

I have no idea how I celebrated my 30th -- If Chuck wasn't on some trip for his job, we probably went out to some place expensive like Taco Bell to celebrate. I was the mother of two at the time (see StarKat, above as #2). We were renting an apartment, had bills to pay and responsibilities that neither of us had really foreseen, but I don't remember being particularly worried about my advancing age.

Happy Almost-birthday. Enjoy it; it's not nearly as bad as it seems.

Nan

Hmm, I didn't say how I spent my 30th, did I. I took the day off, got up early to go to the DMV, came home, watched some anime, played a video game, then went out to a japanese restaurant for dinner with the family and the roommate. It was a milestone birthday not because of the number, but because it was the first bithday in 20 years that my mom was able to be there.

Thank you Starkat and Nan. Like the cake by the way! wonder if i can get one like that. Thank you all. I just found out (being Lois Lane that my friends are having an surprise birthday party for me) wasn't being nosy just stumble into LOL

How did it feel? No different to 29.

Personally, I found turning 21 far more traumatic than 30. It was like OMG, I'm supposed to be an adult now, and I didn't know how to handle that! Or maybe I just gave myself enough time to get used to the idea of turning 30 ie. convince myself I wasn't bothered by it.

The scary part, now pay attention here, is just how quickly 31 creeps up on you. Then you start to feel like you're not just out of your 20's anymore, you're heading for 40!

I was talking to my sister a couple of months ago about a friend of hers who was having a birthday, and I said, "so you'll also be 32 in August" and she said "no, 33"! Which, horror of horrors, means I must be turning 32 this year! How the heck did that happen??

That is what you need to watch out for. Them years are sneaky the way they creep up on you!

I was at a conference in Monterey, California for my 30th. My mom and son had come along since airfare was still relatively cheap. They spent the morning cavorting on the beach while I suffered through the last few meetings of the conference. Then we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to meet one of my friends in San Francisco. Three of my favorite things all in one day: a road trip, family and friends.

Gr8shades is right. One day you're 19 years old and then poof you're 39 and you have a small stroke when you realize that the birthday hijinks you and your friend are laughing about happened twenty freakin' years ago. It's only when stuff like that creeps up on me that I feel old. The rest of the time I'm nominally stuck somewhere in my 20's.

Happy birthday!

What's worse is when you realize that you didn't have any birthday hijinks, and that the days when you could attempt to rectify that have passed...

Karen wrote:
Oh, I don't know about that. You can always get a chuckle out of those "Ten Good Things About Getting Old" birthday cards like the ones my younger sister has been sending me for the past decade or so.

And not too many twelvemonths past, my father sent me a birthday card which had Commander Data from ST:TNG on the cover. The outer caption read, "I would not say that you are old."

The inner caption read, "However, if you were an android, you would be broken up into your component parts and sold for salvage."

I love my family.

Well, I work with some 'kids' (in their 20's) who are big Star Wars fans. I love telling them how I was present at the first day that The Empire Strikes Back came out and how the audience reacted when Vader says to Luke, "No, I am your father." I usually leave them awestruck.

Ah 30. Thirty was OK I guess. I was fairly happy to hit the big 30. 40 sucked for me. I had no house, no steady job and after trying in vitro no kids. We were broke and going through our own identity crisis (My husband and I) But things picked up at 42 when I finally had a home. At 48 I became a Mom and adopted a little boy from Russia. I had no idea at 30 how my life would change in the next 20 years. I am 50 now and I still have yet to find the perfect job. I understand that marriage isn't perfect but love keeps it strong. I have a perfect (in my opinion)<g> little doll of 3 years old(soon to be 4) that I am enjoying sooooo much. I have aches and pains and debts still but I am content. My son brings me joy I can't begin to explain. My husband of 22 years is my life partner and friend. I love my home, the jobs I have are ok and I derive both joy and aggravation from them, like any other jobs. So you still have your whole life ahead of you to ponder and enjoy. No one knows what surprises will come their way. Celebrate the day with the people you love. You never know when one of them won't be around to celebrate your next birthday. Embrace life, it's ups and downs and stay childlike in your enthusiasm toward it! Laura

Wonderfully said, Laura!