I turn 30 years old this month (January 18, to be exact). I’m not exactly sure how I’m supposed to think about this, but I’d like to think of it as the beginning of a new time of life. In fact, there are a lot of reasons to think this way right now. It’s the beginning of a new decade, both Brooke and I are turning 30 this month, and we will celebrate our 10 year anniversary in July of this year. Along with these 10 year markers, I think we ended a phase of life with the birth of Lila last September. We now have two children and are thinking, at least for now, that this might be the completion of our family. So much of the 2000s, and our 20s, were spent pursuing children. I’d say that along with beginning a marriage together, this was the most significant theme of the past decade. The thought of putting this period behind us - a period that was difficult in many ways - is quite attractive. I feel a certain sense of excitement that we can now focus our energies on growing our existing family, rather than pursuing more children. Our 20s were also devoted to completing school (well, kind of…), finding a real job/career, buying a home, and basically establishing ourselves financially. While I’m still trying to figure out the whole career thing, at least we’re in a fairly stable place from which to consider the future. My hope is that I am entering a fertile period of generativity. While my 20s were primarily a time of becoming established, whatever that means, I hope my 30s are about bringing to fruition some dreams of what I might be able to contribute in this world. Not just in my work/career, but also in my marriage and role as a father. I’m not exactly sure what this means, or what the future holds, but I’m excited to move into this time.
