I will officially turn 20 tomorrow at 2:38 p.m. central time. Ten years ago around this time…

It was 2000. The new millennium was still a novelty.

I was waiting to turn 10 and very excited for ‘double-digits.’

I would soon be having a birthday pool party at water works with blue jello made to look like the ocean.

I was in fourth grade.

My parents were still married.

The hardest thing I did in school was memorizing all fifty states and their capitals.

Now, I am a whole decade older and in college. I will not be having a birthday party, but instead, two lengthy finals. My parents are divorced, and the hardest thing I did in school this semester was my 11 page HOJO research paper and staying up until all hours working at The Maneater, considerably larger undertakings than U.S. geography.

I probably would never have imagined that I would go out of state to college and plan to get a dual degree in 3.5 years, a master’s in 4.5. I would have be shocked to learn I traveled to Israel, won state in Radio, and got my first real job.

I wonder what I will be looking back on in the next ten years. It’s scary to think about. After the excessive amount of Friends episodes I have been watching, 30 seems more and more ominous. I am starting to understand why women get antsy. My 20s have not even begun, and I already don’t want them to end. I have so much built up for this time in my life, and I suppose it makes me anxious that I might not be able to do it all. College, grad school, law school, a job…ten years does not seem to be enough time for my education, let alone an actual life.

I was skeptical when my roommate was unhappy about turning 20 this past September. I thought 20 was far too young to be worried about getting old. But she may have a point. My childhood is completely behind me. I can no longer use ‘teenager’ as any kind of excuse, not that I ever really did.

It’s just strange when your life takes a sharp turn and you can never go back.