It’s so nice when my birthday falls in the middle of Spring Break. As an April birthday, there’s always a good chance I’ll be off of school and work for my day. Luckily, this week, my birthday falls on Friday, and I get to spend the weekend at my future sister-in-law’s bachelorette party!
I’ve spent the whole week catching up on errands, spring cleaning, and oh, beginning to plan my wedding. We have been engaged for 10 months now (holy cow.), but we are finally ready to begin planning, and I must say, it has already caused me stress and annoyance. I’ll save that rant for another day.
Luckily, my wonderful fiancé gave me my present early, and it is 108 classes at a new yoga place that opened in town! (108 classes.. that’s commitment.) He figured I would need a way to relieve the wedding planning stress.
He calls me a birthday diva, partially because I am. I’m such a sucker for fresh starts, and there’s something so symbolic about birthdays. Cross off another year of being on this earth, and starting a new year fresh with possibilities. I love to look back and see where I’ve been and how far I’ve come in the last year, as well as look forward to all of the new possibilities that the new year will bring.
Being 25
Twenty-five was a tumultuous year for me, to say the least. I started the year moving Jeromy back home and getting engaged in the same week. It was wonderful and happy and amazing. I passed the hardest class of the MBA program with a B (should have been an A, I swear). I left my Graduate Assistant position to search for my Career. I had an amazing vacation in Colorado with my favorite boy, and I realized I love hiking and ballooning and being in not-so-humid weather.
But then I started my last semester of the MBA program and spent three months unemployed. It was the hardest three months of my life. It was the first time since eighth grade that I wasn’t making any money of my own, and I really struggled coming to terms with relying on Jeromy and my family, as well as trying to find a job that was the right fit for me.
Thankfully, in October, I got a text message from a sorority sister that eventually led to me making the decision to go back to teaching. That text message, and the subsequent visit to the school, made me realize that teaching has been in my heart since I was a child, and all I needed was the right environment to bring me back to that love.
After the visit to that school, I began substitute teaching to make it until August when I could start teaching at my school full time. I found a long-term substitute position at a school with teacher friends, and I spent 3 (long) months there. The day after I realized that the long-term position was ending, I received an email from an administrator at my school offering me a full time position (with benefits!) that would carry me through to teaching full time in August.
It’s amazing and funny and miraculous the way the world works sometimes. Just when I would give up hope or really start worrying, something would happen that would remind me that the universe has bigger plans for me than I had for myself.
Turning 26
I finally feel stable. I feel like I’m on the right path.. my feet are walking the path I hope to be walking for a while. I know (of course I know) life has a way of throwing us off track right when we get comfortable, but for now, I feel like I have a plan, and that, for the first time, having a plan doesn’t scare me.
Twenty-six will be a year of rejuvenation. Building up my savings while cutting my debt. Saving (and spending) for our wedding. Hopefully house hunting. Definitely finding a balance through my 108 yoga classes. Spending lots more time cooking and playing with my pets and soaking up the summer and learning everything I can to thrive in my career.
I’ve gushed a lot, but honestly, I have never been more excited, more ready, more thrilled to be getting older and growing more secure. 26 will be a good year, folks.
