12/11/2024: Presents and Plans

It’s about to be a whirlwind of presents and plans as we come to the end of the year. I’m looking forward to travelling home on a long drive with Caleb, where we always have the best talks and laughs together. I’m also looking forward to seeing family and friends again, and most importantly giving.

The last few years have been about bringing joy to those I love most, not about what I’m going to get. I think quality time with people and the memories that come with that time spent are more valuable to me now than they’ve ever been. I guess that’s part of getting older, or at least it’s part of living a simpler life with less expectations. While the world rushes around, wasting their time to find the perfect gift, I’ll be making the most of the time that I’ve been given instead. 

We’ll also be revisiting my favorite nature escape in Texas while we’re there. This year, we’re celebrating New Years and another birthday, but it’s not just any birthday. This year is the big 3-0 for Caleb, and I plan to make the day as special as I can during our time in solitude at the tiny cabin together. 

Now it’s time to see if it’s true that your thirties are the best years. I don’t want to imagine that they’re any worse than any decade of life so far. I’d like to think that by this decade we’ve learned and grown so much that we have a better sense of what we want and where we’re going. But I think it’s okay if that’s still not true. 

It’s a gift to live life at all, to collect experiences and moments that add up to a life well lived in the end. That looks different to everyone, but everyone deserves to walk their own path, and to make their own decisions and mistakes along the way.

I just don’t want to wake up one day and realize that I wasted my here and now planning for the future, that I didn’t truly live in the moment, in the only sliver of time that I was ever guaranteed in this life. Yes, it’s important to dream, but it’s just as, if not even more important, to not wait too long to seize what you want. 

I’m starting to think that I would be happy if any variation of the dreams Caleb and I have came true at this point. Whatever option falls into our laps or becomes attainable first, I think I’ll be eager to jump on it. I know he’s ready for change, and I am too. But for now we’ll celebrate, I’ll try to convince Caleb that thirty is not the end, and we’ll make our dreams come true by acting on them.