A Farewell Address

This is my farewell address to my 20's:

I posted on Facebook earlier today, "So this is what the last day in my 20's feels like."  A friend responded, "Doesn't it feel like the day before 20?"  What a great question!  Naturally, it prompted me to think and compare the two.

I recall such anticipation in turning 20.  Changing decades meant I wasn't a teen anymore, and that I had somehow survived something.  This survival also qualified me with a certain amount of experience, meaning that I was finally an adult!  My life was about to change drastically only 6 weeks later, and in many ways it was about to truly begin. 

I found myself in my 20's.  At last I began the journey of discovery.  Training in missionary outreach, traveling to India, studying in Europe, working in the ministry, earning a college education, enduring 9/11, moving to the big city all by myself, maintaining my singularity, and truly beginning to understand the value of relationships are all some of the most valuable milestones of my 20's.  Some claim that their teens were the time of my life.  Frankly, you could not pay me to return to my teens!  It will take me another few decades to conclusively decide, but I suspect that my 20's will always be the proverbial time of my life.  So, my 20's, I thank you for some of the best, and some of the most difficult, times of my life. 

Do I feel 30?  I am still not sure exactly how it is supposed to feel.  I do feel that you, my 20's, have prepared me for what the future holds.  I am not scared of entering the next decade, and it is only because you have so appropriately prepared me over the past 10 years.  Thank you for the amazing people you brought into my life to assist in my metamorphosis.  Thank you for a decade of growth and discovery.  Thank you for 10 years of "becoming".  I will spend a lifetime reflecting on your influence in my muchness.