25 and Counting

(they made me a hat out of aluminum foil...at mongolian barbeque)

So a couple days ago I turned 25...I've lived a Quarter of a Century. I think it is always my first reaction when it comes to birthdays to reflect on the previous year, all the adventures I went on, all the trials I over came, all the questions that are still unanswered, all the people that have come and gone in my life. Being that this was a 'big' birthday, in the sense that next year i will be closer to 30 than 20, I found myself not only reflecting on the past year but on my life as a whole. I could write pages and pages about the things that I learned throughout the years, about people, about myself but that isn't the point...my point is that thinking back over my life to date I've been extremely lucky. I've experienced far-off lands and explored my own backyard, i've experienced a sense of worth in a world filled with no sense of self, I've experienced love and loss, I've gone out on my own and I've been welcomed home, I've fallen and gotten back up again, I've stood up for what I wanted and I gave when it wasn't asked of me...looking back over the last 25yrs I saw someone that conquered fears, that stepped out of her comfort zone, that wanted to see the world and made it happen...I saw someone that has really lived each day full.
Although I've made many mistakes in my life, I've learned and grown because of each of them. As much as I question where I am at this specific moment I know that my life on a scale of 1 - 10 has surpassed all boundaries. I've truly been blessed.


Here are a couple quotes that I really liked from one of the books I read this weekend:

"If you change the choices you made in your past...of course the consequences would be different, but then so would you. Everything you do in life, whether it's good or bad, makes you who you are. Don't 'maybe' your decisions to death because you can't change them...If you are going to think about your past, rather than dwell on the reasons you shouldn't have done something, remember the reasons you did."
"If you are going to remember anything from your past, than do so fondly because you can't change a thing about it...Life is filled with pain and beauty. It's a journey, a learning experience."
-20 Times the Lady

This is a quote I found on the authors blog that I really loved:

"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief... and unspeakable love."
- Washington Irving