Per our last post, you can tell we’ve been keeping busy. Between weddings, travel, family visits and work, we managed to fill up pretty much every weekend with activities (90% of them out of town) starting in April.
And it all began with something I didn’t think would ever happen… not in a million years.
I. turned. 30.
How did this happen!?! I feel like there should be some sort of test that you need to pass in order to prove your ready to enter your 4th decade on this earth. A test that I would invariably fail. Because I can’t possibly be ready to turn 30. This test would look something like this:
Please answer the following questions as truthful as possible. If you answer “no” to more then 3 of the following, you are not ready to be 30. Please retake next year. (My answers are in bold.)
- Have you traveled around the sun 30 times?
Yes. - Do you make (and keep) annual dentist appointments?
No. - Can you go more than 2-consecutive days without spilling coffee on yourself?
No. - Are you married?
According to my Pinterest? Yes. I have planned the equivalent of 30 weddings.
According to Steve? No. - a – Do you know how to spell the word “Bureaucrat?”
YES!
b – Without the help of spell-check?
No… :-( - Do you have a mortgage?
Does the monthly cost of keeping a 32-year old vehicle “road worthy” count?
No.
Then, no. - Have you stopped eating Frozen Yoghurt (and only frozen yoghurt) for dinner?
What, really!?! You have to do this? No… :-(
So, as you can see, not ready to be 30.
But, it happened anyways.
The weeks leading up to my birthday were crazy. Part of my job at work includes planning a large event that always happens a few days before or after my special day. This year was no different. My birthday fell on Sunday, and my event happened the following Friday. To top it off, Steve came home in mid-March with this:
Steve: “Hey Babe, there is an important conference I need to go to for work. It’s in New York.”
Me: “Cool. That sounds like fun!”
Steve: “Well, it means I will be gone on your birthday.”
Me: “Oh, that’s OK. I was planning on working that weekend anyways because of my event.”
And so, Steve booked his tickets to New York, and I hunkered down immersed in my event planning.
But as the weeks went by it became more and more apparent that I WAS TURNING 30. And instead of celebrating being born, I was going to be PRINTING NAME-BADGES and EMAILING TABLE ASSIGNMENTS. And I was going to be spending this momentousness (some might say, depressing) time all ALONE.
Suddenly, it was clear – Steve was ABANDONING me in my time of need! But, in typical Sierra fashion, it took me awhile to come to terms with this realization. I didn’t want to come across as selfish or vein. Birthdays could be celebrated a week late. Age is just a number. This conference is important for my loved ones career.
And then 2-weeks before my big day, Steve looked at his phone and said, “This is weird. I just got a calendar reminder that says, ‘Steve Leaves Sierra for New York One Her 30th Birthday Weekend.'”
“Oh. Yeah.” I stammered. “I might have added that to our shared Google Calendar.”
“Hmmm… does this have a deeper meaning?”
“Oh. No. I’m fine.” I said.
Which of course, later that night, when I broke down in tears and lamented how I was being abandoned and getting SOOO old and nobody love me, Steve realized that I was not, in fact, “fine.”
The next day Steve went to his boss and said, “Dude. I think I messed up. Sierra told me it was OK for me to go to this conference, but I’m starting to think that’s not really what she meant…”
Steve’s boss, a wise man (or, perhaps, just a seasoned husband), replied, “Well. Then you need to fly her to New York.”
So, when I came home from work that day, Steve stood in the kitchen an proclaimed, “I have something to tell you. And before you say, “no,” let me say everything I need to say.”
And then he took a deep breath and proclaimed, “I am flying you to New York on your birthday. I know you have your event. I know you’re supposed to be working. But we shouldn’t spend your 30th Birthday apart. And you definitely shouldn’t spend your 30th Birthday alone. You are coming to New York. Even if we spend the whole weekend in the hotel room printing name-badges and emailing table assignments, you are coming to New York.”
“But my event!?! There is too much to do!”
“You are coming to New York.”
And that was that. I was going to spend my 30th birthday in New York with my most favorite person.
Thanks to a very wonderful and understanding boss, I even got to enjoy my trip – Complete with:
All this to say, I turned 30, despite failing the test and having a minor life-crisis in the process. And I must say, thanks to a certain incredible boyfriend, this 30 thing isn’t so bad. In fact, it feels like a more awesome version of my 20’s… I have more knowledge, more vehicles, more career happiness, more stability with income, and more love!
Up next… Steve joins the club, turns the big 3-0 himself. :-(D
thebustache 