THIRTINESS

July looms in front of me.

I will soon be thirty no longer. I really like being thirty. But in less than one week I will go from being "30" to being "in my thirties". In my mind there seems to be some distinction.

While I have my share of disappointments about my life and how I've used it, I am not all-together bothered by this new age. Maybe some. But I am also happy about how some things have gone. And getting older seems to lend some credibility to one, even if that is just in my mind and prideful. I always seem to be on the hunt for credibility and affirmation; often to a fault, I suppose....I know.

Thirty has been a very good year overall. I really like milestone years. Some people told me that 25 was a very difficult year for them. Personally, I found that 25 really agreed with me. In my mind, reaching the quarter-of-a-century mark was something to celebrate and a time to make positive changes and choices. 25 was a great year.

Back when I was a kid there was an award-winning television show called "thirtysomething" about a group of yuppy baby-boomers in Philadelphia. The characters were (obviously) in their thirties. But as I recall, those people had careers and mortgages and marriages and children....things which do not define my decade of thirtiness so far. And sometimes I look at pictures like the one above and think, "Is that what thirty-something people look like? And do I fit the bill? Hmmm."

Thirtiness.

I think I just coined that word. I like it.