Today's My Birthday!

Usually, I make a huge 'to-do' about my birthday... start counting down, planning a celebration, etc. This year... not so much (although my bf would probably beg to differ). I guess 25 is considered a 'milestone' birthday - I can rent a car, my car insurance goes down, I'm definitively mid 20's, closer to 30 than ever. 


This birthday, I think more than any other birthday, I've been reflecting on my past. I spent a good amount of time last night looking through baby pictures (some from exactly 25 years ago) and thinking about where I am now vs. where I thought I'd be vs. where I want to be.

Baby Me and Daddy in my first home, San Rafael, CA

I'd always said I'd never return to Cleveland. So I went to college in New England, figuring, since I knew I was destined for the West Coast, I might as well check out the East Coast first. I tried to get in as much as I could. I visited Portland, Maine, Boston, Philadelphia, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, The Northeast Kingdom in Vermont, New Haven, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Albany, New York, NYC, the White Mountains in New Hampshire. And even south, the Carolinas, Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, Fort Lauderdale and  Orlando Florida, Radford, Virginia, Washington, DC...But I definitely felt most 'at home' in Burlington, Vermont.

A friend, Me and my favorite teacher at the top of Mt Abraham

But, here I am, back in Cleveland, as I've been for the past year and a half. It's not a waste, I get to see my family regularly, and I have some of the best friends ever here. 


It's weird living in the place you grew up...Everything you drive past has between 4 and 5,000 memories associated with it. And that can be comforting and nice, but it can also 'ruin' places for you. 


On my 22nd birthday, I promised myself I'd be living in California by my 27th birthday. And if I turned 27 and wasn't there, I'd have to drop everything and make the move, job or no job, money saved or not, place to crash or not. Do or die. 


I've got two years to meet that goal - I think I can do it. 

Just a bonus shot of me as an 8 year old. For fun. :P