The not so graceful adventures

May 13, 2018

Peace Out 20s

Peace Out 20s

I feel a little weird doing a post like this because I’m not sure I have a WHOLE lot to teach people, but I did want a way to reflect on my 20s. After having some friends share some fun stories with me, I figured WHAT THE HAY. I’ll sprinkle some fun stories and maybe some wisdom about the last decade of my life. I’m going to go through each year and share a couple of gems!

2008 – Ok, if I’m totally honest I wasn’t quite 20 yet, but my best memory of 2008 is Spring Break with my pledge sisters. This is when some serious friendships were made. Of course we had been hanging out the whole year, but this is where we really all bonded. There was also an incident where a cute football player tried to smooch me and I turned him down because I had a really crap boyfriend who was always mean to me. Not condoning any cheating, but I could have made better choices all around.
Honorable mention: Halloween as a flamingo.

2009 – This one was a doozie. Lived in the sorority dorm (xoxo Mollie Hollie). Fell in love with a boy – said boy ended up going to rehab. Really realized how important real friends are and how grateful I am to have an amazing, supportive, and protective family. Started learning that addiction touches almost everyone somehow. Special shout out to Katy Mac, Martie, Kirstin, and Conlee for loving me through this crazy. A year filled with lots of heartbreak and lots of love. Moved into the play house.
Honorable mention: Katy Mac’s 21st birthday and Halloween as a deviled egg (I’ve always loved food)

2010 – More play house. So many parties. Soooo many 21st birthdays. An obscene amount of Little Italy and beer. More rehab from said boy. Niece number 2 born. I remember craving spending as much time as possible with my family. I had planned to stay in Auburn that summer but ended up going home after Adelaide was born. That fall Auburn won the SEC Championship and then we went on to with the National Championship – it was SO FUN!

 

2011 – Lawd have mercy I don’t think anyone was ready for 2011. No one tells you how hard it is to figure out life – or maybe they do and you just don’t listen because you are SURE you have it figured out when you are 22 going on 23 and graduating. I spent every moment possible with friends. I believe there was a spontaneous trip to New Orleans and another road trip to Baton Rouge through a blizzard. I moved to Baton Rouge for said boy. Was broken up with by said boy and moved back to Birmingham. Cried every.damn.day. in my parents basement for about 6 months.

Wise-ish words from 2011: Figuring out life after graduating is really flippin hard. The plans you make for yourself almost never work out. Your are damn lucky if you have a mom who comes to rescue you from another city the minute you call her with a broken heart. One day you will indeed stop crying.

2012 – Leading to success?? Finally got a full time job, moved out of my parents house to an apartment a whopping .5 miles away. 2012 might have been one of the wildest ones. Lots of drinks by the pool with Cassie, late nights, fun dates, let’s be real – there were a lot of hangovers. Plenty of mistakes and lots of lessons learned.

2013 – Here begins the TRAVEL! What a freaking fun year – I went all over with my job. My friend Martie lived in LA, and when work would take me there I would extend the trip and we would run around like a wild beast with no inhibitions. More hangovers. This is the year I learned the most about myself. You want to learn independence? Travel alone. I’m forever grateful for it. I also started paying attention to eating healthy and working out – this has ebbed and flowed over thee years. There was a brief meeting with a guy who really caught my attention at a Chris Stapleton concert….remember this one, it comes back. 🙂 He wasn’t all too interested in me, but I never forgot him.

Pat’s Philly Cheese Steak IN Philly
We ate at this place called Pop’s place every day in New Jersey. They taught us about pork roll, we taught them about grits
A night out in New York
Mount St. Helens in Washington State

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 – At this point I am the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been. Had a fleeting romance with a cute Marine. Still traveling a ton – for work and for fun. I said yes to just about everything and I don’t regret it. And then, THEN – I bought a house! I had never been more proud of something I had done. I never thought that was something I could do on my own. Biggest lesson learned: you can absolutely do what you put your mind to. I decided I wanted to buy a house, so I saved up and I did. I also traveled to Vegas a lot in 2014 for work and once for a girls trip with Katy Mac, Martie, and Whitney. SAW BRITNEY SPEARS IN VEGAS DEFINITE HIGHLIGHT! Two more little babies born, my sweet baby niece and my sweet baby nephew. Another key moment – that boy from the Chris Stapleton concert? We both swiped right on Tinder and went on our first date December 28,2014.

2015 – Best family vacation of all time – Disney World. Daddy, is it time for us to go back? Start spending more and more time with the boy, now affectionately referred to as JTW. In no time we are just about inseparable. Lots of engagements, weddings, and a little more travel. I left the company I had been working for since fall 2011 for a job that turned out to be way less stressful and in turn horribly boring.

2016 – JTW asks me to marry him, I said yes 🙂 Told y’all that would come full circle! Return to my former company (thank you Delphine). Get married!!!!!! At one point in this timeline I decided marriage probably wasn’t for me, but he proved me wrong and I’m glad we did. Right after our wedding, life got pretty hard due to some family stuff on both of our sides. We learned to turn to each other when we were sad and scared. We also got our sweet little hound dog, Dolly.

2017 – Figuring out that married life. Sell that house I was so proud of and bought a new one a few miles away. We still adore it. There was a bit of a snag when a tree fell on the house a couple of months after we moved in but all is well now. Went to Tahoe! Some really hard times at work that some really strong ladies and an awesome husband helped me find strength for.

2018 – Here we are 🙂 It has started off STRONG. We’ve gone to Breckenridge to ski and we went to Mexico to relax. And just like that, I’m 30.

I think we all kind of hobble through our 20s. I don’t expect that my 20s were a whole lot different than your 20s. And if you are just starting to hobble through, maybe something about my story stands out. I have a heart for people who are figuring it all out and I’m an open book about sharing more details, I’m just not sure this extra long blog post is the place to do it.

I learned how to be confident, independent, and to ask for what I deserve. I’ve been lucky to always have great friends in my life, but this last decade I really learned why it’s so important. I’ve learned where to invest my time and where I should let some things go. I think I’m going to learn even more in my 30s and to be honest, I’m pretty damn excited about it.

Tell me the story of your 20s in the comments! Was it similar to mine? What did you learn?

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