Twenty-Eight

Twenty-eight has proved to be an odd and confusing age so far.  More than any other time that I can remember in the second-half of my 20s, I feel like I’ve been asked how old I was more THIS year.  When I answer, I get a really odd mix of responses.  Most people, especially strangers (dentist, hair dresser, lady at my gym), remark on how “young” I am, or that I’m still a “baby.”  That response is SO odd to me, because, I don’t really consider myself either of those two things.  The remainder of the people (co-workers, my family), usually want to know how long I’ve been married, and when I’m planning on having kids, because that’s what’s normal or expected to them.  A remark from my gym instructor really got me the other day—she was talking to someone else about this girl who did Cross Fit at another gym and was really good.  When asked how old the cross fit girl was, my instructor said, “She’s not young.  I think she’s like, 28, or 30.  She’s not like those young girls who can just rip out a workout.”

Okay, so WHICH is it, then?  Am I young?  Am I bordering on too old?  Maybe the reason that I get a bit edgy about it is not because people ask me more about my age now, but more because I feel conflicted about it.  Comparatively, I think that 28 is still young-ish.  But not just “young” by itself, you know?  I felt “young” in college.  Now, I’ve been paying my own way for a long while, and have become a fairly accomplished adult.  I’ve been out of college for 5 years now, I JUST got married a year and a half ago.  I’ve been doing stuff, enjoying my life, seeing the sites and having adventures.  I feel good about all of it.  I don’t (often) look at my friends who got married and had kids younger and wish I could go back for a re-do to be more like them.  I’m not even close to the oldest person in my office who doesn’t have kids.  

But, it still nags at me, because 28 seems so very close to 30, and with that age comes a bunch of expectations and judgments.  Not to mention, concerning stats.  One minute I feel so free to just be able to pick up and leave and travel for work with no qualms.  Another minute, I am consumed with worry of what people will think if I don’t produce offspring in the near future, and the consequences to MY future if I don’t.  It. Is. Exhausting.  For once, I’d like someone to say “Oh, 28… that’s a fun age.”  Or, even better—don’t ask at all!  I know how old I am, I am well informed of the expectations and stats of being 28, and I’m handling it.  I got this.  Trust me.

I digress from my moody rant.  It’s been a very busy March around these parts.  We were hit with the news that Steven’s grandma had passed away (peacefully) in the second week of March.  We made the trip back to Malta to be at her funeral.  I was glad to be there for Steve and help out the family during the hard time.  I feel comforted that she had a long, full life and was loved by so many people.  I know it will be hard for the Greens not to have her to talk to anymore.  She will be very missed.

The week after we got back from Montana, I was off again for a work trip to Chicago.  It turned out to be a nice visit, aside from the FREEZING cold weather, and the massive issues that our software’s build created the weekend before.  The office was "tense" to say the least.  But, I got to visit and bond with my team, as well as see a lot of other people I usually only email, so it was a pretty productive time.  There was also a product training during that time that some other people from the remote offices flew in for, and hanging out with them in a different city was pretty cool.  I always like going back to Chicago.  The streets and way of life are so fresh in my mind and it’s easy to get swept up in the city lifestyle after being submerged in suburbia for almost three years now.  But, I SO do not miss the cold.  I’ll take my 60 degree March days over anything else.  Caligurl4eva.  ;)

As always, I’ll end this blog with a resolution update:

1. I fell behind on blogging for reasons mentioned above, but I’m completing mine for this week!
2. I’ve been doing pretty well with being active during lunch.  This week it’s been rainy and hard to get outside, but I did go for a nice walk on Tuesday and cleaned up the house Wednesday.
3. I’ve kept up with bootcamp pretty well and really only fell off the wagon in Chicago, where it's pretty tough to work out in a hotel—but I walked so much that I feel like I MUST have got some calories burnt off that I normally would not have.  Steve and I also hiked at Sunol two weekends ago, so I hope that we can keep it up.  Exploring new hiking areas around the Bay is so fun!
4. I’m trying to get back on the wagon for eating less junk food.  I’ve done pretty well this week—as long as you don’t count the frozen strawberry lemonades at McDonalds as Junk.  :)
5. I’ve still flossed pretty regularly every other night, and my dentist check up went pretty well a few weeks ago.  I only have one cavity and I think it has been there for a bit, because the dentist said it was right beside a filling they had already done last year.  I think when that happens, they should re-do your filling for free.  It must be their fault if the filling didn’t do it’s job, right? ;)
6. I’ve been to a few places that I need to Yelp about, so I’ll try to get on that next week.
7. No back-blogs yet! 

I will leave you with some pictures from our most recent hike in Sunol.  I’m really enjoying getting outside and seeing the sites of the bay at new heights!