Blog #1

I recently moved to Knoxville Tennessee. After living my whole life in the mountains of Colorado it was a massive change. A change I had no idea if I was ready for, but it came nonetheless. My partner and I found a place, a two-bedroom apartment for us and our two dogs. We settled in and made it a home. I even have an office now! An office I’m currently not writing in as I do this but what can I say? I like the bagels at this shop. But the apartments great, and we’re really enjoying living in our own space. We deep clean the house every week and its quick because we keep the joint pretty clean anyways. Allison always turns on some tunes and we get to cleaning. It was last week that I was scrubbing the bathtub. Kesha’s two thousand and nine anthem Tik Tok is pumping in the background and Allison says, “I’ll take songs we used to get crunk to but now we clean to for four hundred.” And I laughed, but then I also felt old. I turned thirty this past year and while the birthday itself was an incredible adventure with good friends and beautiful locations. I was kind of dreading being thirty.

Hardly anyone describes turning 30 as anything other than ‘The end of your twenties’ or ‘The end of your youth’. Most people are out of college by now and settling into lifelong careers. Facing new challenges and more responsibilities. Your twenties are a time of reckless adventure, experimenting, making friends and finding yourself. I was no different. Your man used to get DOWN. Endless parties, concerts, travel, questionable decisions and locations, never sleeping enough, always eating everything, and making friends with anyone who would talk to me. I once drove across the country packed in a tiny car with FIVE other people to follow a musician I am not proud of following. I was wild. I took risks. A lot of risks now that I’m actually thinking about it. Charging through life with reckless abandon trying to feel and experience everything. And part of me mourned that as thirty came around the corner. Was I not as fun as I used to be? Here I am on my day off, scrubbing a bathtub with no plans for the rest of the day.

But then I looked around the house. At our walls covered in pictures and memories. A photo of me front flipping off the stage at my favorite bands show. A group trip to the aquarium with some of our best friends that led to a baseball game and late-night dance party. My favorite photo, Allison and I standing center of the bridge at Multnomah falls. (It’s the centerpiece for our immaculate bookcase that I’m very proud of.) I look to our sleeping dogs on the couch, both wiped out from an awesome hike we did through the woods yesterday. (It continuously blows my mind how green and gorgeous it is out here.) Then I look to Allison, who’s moving my rollerblades out of the way so she can sweep the entry way. And it all just kind of clicked for me. I’m incredibly blessed being able to go on the adventures I do and see the things I see. Just because I’m not partying like there’s no tomorrow or taking risks with strangers doesn’t mean I’m no longer adventurous.

I still hit the skatepark, I love hiking through the outdoors, swimming in the rivers, I’ve even been known to cliff jump on occasion. I’m eating better than I ever have in my life and you can still catch these hands in the pit at your local metal show. The world is still beautiful and full of adventure. And no less exciting because I have turned thirty. I’m happy, and ambitious, and excited for what the future has instore for me. So, as I scrub the bathtub listening to Kesha and Allison passes me a midday Whiteclaw I laugh and think, ‘Yeah. Thirty is pretty sweet.’