That thing about age...

Once a year comes the day when you suddenly add a number to the numbers of years that you have spent on this earth. For some it's a day of joy, for others it's the day that you'd rather forget.

Personally I quite enjoy birthdays. I think it's the whole cake + presents combination that really does it for me... No, that's not entirely true (even if those two certainly are nice parts of the day), but I enjoy the family getting together. Since I live abroad I don't always get to see my family on my birthday (or theirs for that matter). Last year was one of those years, so this year I made sure that I could get a couple of days off work and travel home.

So, today I had a birthday BBQ with my closest family which was really nice. Sure, the weather could have been better.. But! I'm happy just to have been home to properly celebrate. And that's all that really matters.

(Having had an absolutely gorgeous green marsipan cake didn't make matters worse though!)

Then of course there's that issue... You know the one... Getting old. It's never bothered me much, but I'm now on the far side of twenty.. just shy of thirty. I just passed that stepping stone this year. Am I where I had expected to be in my life at this point? Probably not. Am I dissatisfied? Not really.

I still have plenty of goals to reach. I want to be a published author. I might eventually want a family (though right now I quite enjoy being single... - am I allowed to say that as an aspiring romance writer? ;) ). I'm considering going back to school to get a degree. (Either in Psychology or Social or Cultural Science.)

Well, there's obviously plenty of things yet to do. I guess sometimes I feel like time is running out though. Shouldn't I have gotten further in my writing by now? Shouldn't I have quit working sooner to get that degree? Shouldn't I already be in a serious relationship? (Ok, I was... but it ended and I've been single since.)

I guess I just need to start working on these things a bit more. I mean, the writing and the studying (if I decide to study rather than work for a bit.. to then hopefully go back and find a more senior position). The family thing.. well, that's something I will leave to fate :)

Do you ever feel like you're running out of time? Do you ever have a niggling fear that you should have accomplished more by now?