Another year older and wiser too

(We shall see about wiser.)

I turn twenty-four today. 7:47 PM is my big birth moment. The only time I let myself feel old is when I remember that as a child I designated 24 as the year that I would both start my career and get married. Neither of those are on the immediate horizon, but a year is a long time. And if not, there will be years after that. I'm in no rush.

For past birthday memories, you can read about when I turned 21 and blogged a few of my favorite birthday memories. A personal favorite was age 3. "My first birthday party! I was the only girl in attendance, as my parent's friends conveniently managed to have all boys. (Seriously good odds. It's really a pity I was too young to care.) We made crime scene-style tracings of our little bodies on butcher paper. Mom and Dad? That was kind of morbid, but AWESOME."

22 and 23 were spent in Canada, oddly both in the same city. You often move around as a missionary--I lived in four beautiful BC cities. The first June I was in Victoria, but the day of my birthday I drove up to Courtenay with the other sister stationed there as our companions had a Very Important Meeting to attend on the mainland. The second year, I'd been in Courtenay for three months and knew I would soon be leaving. My darling sisters--both new in the mission field--sneakily planned a surprise party with all the members of the congregation. We ate enchiladas and they gave me a fake crown. If there's one thing you need to know about me, it's that I am a huge, ol' sucker for fake crowns. And real ones, although I've never had the chance. (I have no doubt in my mind that I would love a real crown.) I certainly had no idea that a year from then I'd be living in Texas.

Last night I held a birthday party. 90s-themed, because I believe that in order to have a good decade party you need to have two decades of space between the current year and the starting year. Last year would have been acceptable but, you know, Canada. So there were Lisa Frank decorations and Capri Suns and Clueless and a playlist seemingly pulled straight from VH1. I would classify the party as "a hit," maybe even "da bomb." (The 90s, man! Weren't they great?!)

I don't want to be all weird and introspective or retrospective for that matter, but I'm super grateful to have made it this far. (Next year, however, I reserve the right to have a full-on quarterlife crisis so you better watch out.) I began today with red velvet cake and a bowl of sugar-dusted raspberries. Any year that starts off like that is guaranteed to be wonderful, don't you think?