accepting these things

"At 30 a man should know himself like the palm of his hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities, know how far he can go, foretell his failures - be what he is. And, above all, accept these things."  ~ Albert Camus


"At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit, and at forty, the judgement." ~ Ben Franklin


"Time and tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of thirty." ~ Robert Frost


Everything I know I learned after I was thirty". ~ Georges Clemenceau

"The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits."
~ Hervey Allen

So, 30. That seems to be the most profound thought I've had since my birthday. I'd dreaded 30, and yet now that it's happened I have this strange sense of achievment. I liken the feelings of dread, which I had felt, to the feelings which I had when I applied for colleges; I knew that one of the colleges had to accept me, but until someone did there was this heavy feeling, like an apprehension of the unknown. And so, I begin the next decade of my life, my thirties, which best friend L swears are the best.

My birthday was the same day as the Rally to Restore Sanity in D.C., so this year's birthday found me (slightly) abroad, surrounded by thousands upon thousands of people (actually hundreds of thousands, according to this), celebrating sanity/fear. Didn't really do much to celebrate my birthday on my birthday, so last night I made up for it by hosting a party at our house with many Farm friends.

Can you guess what the theme was? 

I was thinking of mentioning my hopes for my thirties, but they started to sound an awful lot like that Tim McGraw song, and now I'm humming the damn thing. Suffice to say, I hope the next decade is grand!

Wish me luck on this next great adventure.