25

I have entered the final days of my life as a 25-year-old.

One week from today I will be entering the uncharted territory of 26. Luckily, having an April Birthday, a good number of my friends have hit the 26-mark ahead of me. They have said, as with most other birthdays, you do not feel any differently. I can only recall one or two specific birthdays that made me feel older. {Perhaps when I turned thirteen (officially a teenager!) and the infamous 21 (which I spent with my now-husband at Comedy off Broadway drinking my first drink...for serious...a margarita).}

A throwback to the eighties. My first Birthday: April 6, 1986.

In my life, getting older has been marked by moments or situations, not necessarily by specific years. For instance, I truly felt like I had hit adulthood when our new bedroom furniture arrived. Not necessarily when I started my "first real job" the summer after I graduated from college or even when I got married last fall. Sure, they both contributed immensely, but that bedroom furniture hit the nail on the head for me.

In many ways, I still feel like a teenager. I remember what it feels like to be madly in love with a Backstreet Boy (I guess it was not meant to be, Nick Carter) and how it felt to first sit behind the wheel of a car (ah, the days of the forest green Taurus...). To go even further back, I can remember what it feels like to be a kid. The hours I spent playing Barbies with my sisters and best friend Trisha and just the complete sense of freedom that comes with having zero responsibility.

Through most every stage of my life, I have often wished time away. Along the way, I would think, "if only I was 10. Or 16. Or 18. Or out of high school. Or out of college. Or married." And time, moving as quick as it does, would fly by me before I could even recognize (or appreciate) what I had. It is never until after those times are over that you realize what you had.

If I could go back, I would tell younger Kristin to relish each moment, each phase and each chapter. You only have one life. Don't wish it all away! I think that is something most people realize once they hit a certain age. I'm just glad it hit me now...while I am still in my mid-20s and not when I am nearing retirement age. A very merry Birthday realization to me!