so today is my 30th birthday. turning 30 sort of feels the way getting married did. its just a number, but something about you feels different. i felt the same with getting married, it was just a formality to me, but there was always something more to having a "wife" over a "girlfriend". it made me feel more like an adult, or something.
anyway....
i have decided to make a list of things accomplished in my 30 years on earth. its not an amazing list, but its my list.
so here goes "THE LIST", in no particular order.
dun dun dun...
in 30 years i have:
-fathered 2 awesome sons (10 and 3 yrs old)
-been married (soon will be divorced)
-bought my own house
-owned 13 cars (4 of them brand new)
-had a major fall while rock climbing
-enlisted into the military
-been discharged from military (knee injury)
-had more jobs than i can count
-have had 3 serious relationships of 2 or more years
-wrecked a motorcycle
-been in 2 hit and run car accidents (1 major, 0 my fault)
-attended 4 years of college and still have no degree
-done lots and lots of drugs (good and bad)
-become 100% independent
-become very good at what i do for a living
-wiped out all my old debt
ok, so im sure there could be more to this, but im drawing a blank now. there is nothing spectacular about any of them really, but i have tried (for the most part) to do everything on my own terms.
now, an idea for a second list just came to mind. this is gonna be a list of memories that stand out for me over the years. i was telling my GF (amanda) last night how we are literally the last generation to know what growing up w/o cell phones is like. from here on out, younger generations are all going to grow up with cell phones, the internet, broadband connections, etc.
anyways....
so here is "THE LIST 2: Bring On The Memories!" (this is less of a list and more of things i remember, and again, these are in no particular order)
weird things i remember over the years...
i remember:
-having a dual cassette tape player when i was a kid
-playing with star wars action figures
-having star wars curtains in my bedroom
-having a waterbed
-the first time i heard "gangsta rap" (n.w.a.)
-getting my first cordless phone for my 13th bday
-having a pager in high school, haha
-getting on the internet for the very first time (1995)
-getting my first cell phone, a big ass qualcomm phone, haha (1997'ish)
-riding bikes and seeing who could make the longest skid mark on the sidewalk
-playing little league baseball and hitting my 1st home run
-walking home from school and hating it
-field day in elementary school
-watching "looney tunes" every saturday morning @ 9am
ok, the list is getting too long and i can go on and on about stuff. i guess the point to all of this is im excited to see what happens now. it seems that turning 30 is like crossing some threshold in life. for me is a clean slate in a lot of ways. my 20's had lots of ups and downs. i started them out as a young parent, and now they have ended with me as a "soon to be" divorced parent of not 1, but 2 boys. its all good, though, because i feel like i have taken mostly positive lessons from all of it, and now i get a real chance to be in the drivers seat of "my life"a lot more.
