Today is January 23, 2002. It is also the last day of my twenties because tomorrow – I turn thirty.

I have had many birthdays in my life that to me have had significance – like turning ten, sixteen, eighteen, twenty-one, and twenty-five. To me, those were all birthdays that I looked forward to because it meant that I was growing up – but turning thirty is usually the first birthday where people believe they stop growing up – and start growing old – not me. I see turning thirty not as an unfortunate milestone, but as a checkpoint in the race of life. Remember the game Pole Position where you got more racing time if you made it to the checkpoint before your time ran out? That’s how I see hitting thirty – as crossing a checkpoint and moving forward.

In some ways, I feel like I should not be turning thirty yet, and in other ways – I can’t believe I am only turning thirty. While there are times that I still feel young – I have had so many life-altering experiences in the last thirty years that I sometimes feel decades older then I am. But regardless of what age I am turning or whether I feel that I am that age – the only thing thirty is to me is a number.

I know people that both act and appear years older and years younger then their actual age. I know a woman that is pushing fifty and still gets proofed at bars. I know a man that is pushing forty – and doesn’t have a career, a home, a family, or even a resume to speak of. I know people who’s parents look old enough to be their grandparents – and I know a woman that is less then twenty – and already has a child of her own. So whatever your age is doesn’t matter – it’s the person you are and the experiences that you have had that determines your age.

And now, as my biological clock ticks ever closer to the final hours of my twenties, I look forward to reaching thirty years of age and crossing the checkpoint…

…and moving forward.