So far, my twenties can be summed in three little words, “I don’t know.”
For all the close friends out there that know me well can attest that “I don’t know” comes out of my mouth quite often, and is usually followed with the reply, “Well, I don’t know what to tell you.”
I’m summing up over six years here, so that ranges from career, school, love life and investments to whether or not sugar-free jelly beans are a good dinner idea. Never EVER a good idea, by the way. What I’ve learned from jelly beans (again), I have not learned from other experiences (I’m going to go with sugar-free citrus slice gummies next time). Or maybe I have. I don’t know.
But that all changes…in my 26th year. Have I said that to myself every year since I developed the mental capactiy to retain memory? Maybe. Does it matter? No! Because THIS time, I don’t expect to have it all figured out.
The 20s are dedicated to the question, “What next?” Why linger on it? I’ll get older soon enough, so I’m going to follow Dad’s advice and think of the positive and take it one day at a time. Live on the days that God gives me. Not dwell on tomorrow and the question. Tomorrow will come, whether I fret about it or not. I’m just going to be happy, and chase all my cares away. (I loosely quoted a person, a book and a song right there.)
Nobody has it figured out. I would like to get to that point where I look around and think, “Aaahhh, cozy.” Until then, I will relish my infatuation with possibility afforded to me in my 20s. Snow White had a husband, castle, loyal group of friends that made her feel tall and animals that cleaned things…all by the time she was 14. But she is not real. I’m a real person who doesn’t appreciate pet fur on my washed dishes and doesn’t condone breaking into homes. So, of course I don’t expect to have her life! I do, however, would like to have a pet bunny one of these days.
I write this blog for me, but also for all the other girls past 25 freaked out because they don’t have it “all.” We do! Come on, we’re in our 20s! We have youth and opportunity! What’s better?
Another Blessed Pilgrimage 
And what works for you at one point might not work for you at others. I think all of life is basically asking “what next?”
I have far too many things to say on this topic and they can only be truly articulated over a cup of coffee (which I am consuming now at home)–but nonetheless, I am in agreement with you. I have a lot of friends who are married, pregnant or have kids. On the other hand, I have friends who are recent college grads, partying out on Mill every night (I don’t know how one has the physical capability of doing such things so frequently btw), with no jobs and who are basically waiting for “fate” or for some of them “the acceptance into medical school/law school at age 23” to change their lives so that one day, they can finally “grow up”, stop relying on mommy and daddy’s money and become a somewhat functioning adult. Call me bitter.
I don’t feel like I fit either categories. Granted, I don’t mind the occasional glass of wine at a bar with my love, but I could not see myself succumbing to the mess that so many of my friends have fallen in. On the other hand, I don’t see myself popping babies for at least 8 more years. And, I’m definitely not the type to want to stay at home to basically watch the hair in my ears start to grow out.
Conclusion, I’m a 20-something in limbo–at least according to society and those born prior to 1960. Do I feel in limbo? Nope. I feel liberated!
Oh and btw, you DO have it all. Never forget that.
Yes, youth is wasted on the young, but not us! 🙂 Definitely not a party girl myself. A night out on the town for this twenty-something would be coffee and froyo and a movie. Walking around, seeing new things. I’m the intellectual type dying to travel when not burying my nose in books. Always secretly plotting my next escape…