Life Stages

The ups and downs of a twenty-something

I just had a spectacularly bittersweet experience: going away drinks with Bffffffff. It's always nice to hang out with him, but, shit. 
He's moving across the country in a few days. I know he has to for his family, but it's still sad. Well, really, it's a selfish sort of sad...I'm sad that he's moving away. My group of friends is vastly dwindling, and everyone's moving on. 

There's a really weird thing about being single in your late twenties. God, when did I get to my late twenties?! In the past week and a half (I think it's a week, but I'll say week and a half to be safe), there were 4 engagements on the Facebook. What is this? Engagements and weddings and babies. Tomorrow I have another going away party; Mara's moving to Europe to teach. Two friends down. I know, I'm onto "woe is me." I'm happy for them, really and truly. 
I just wonder where this came from? When did life happen? How did I get left behind? No, I can't say that. I can say that I'm relatively successful. I have a great job, with an awesome boss, at a fantastic company, and I'm pretty good at it. Problem is, this life isn't what I expected and I'm not really sure how to handle it. I'm not so much the strong, self-sufficient type. 

Recently, I came up with a new solution to all of this: adventure. I think I already mentioned my upcoming {exciting superfun} weekends. If not, here they are: tomorrow (I should be asleep already) I'm doing a Mud Run with a friend of mine. Neither one of us are big into competitive racing, so it might be more of a Mud Walk. I'm good with this. Lunch and some possible afternoon activity, then back for Mara's shindig. 
Next weekend starts with a big employee event on Friday. I've somehow become in charge of a good portion of the setup, prizes, and awards. A little stressful, but I like that my coworkers/superiors trust me with it. Plus, the dress code awards-show-formal, so I'm of course going all out. I have a twenties theme planned. We'll get out early, which is good to prep for the rest of the weekend. Aaand here we go!

8:00 am I'll be skydiving. Jumping out of a plane. JUMPING OUT OF A PLANE. Oh, yeah, I already did describe this part. Oh well, suck it up, you get to hear it again. Okay. We'll have to leave around 6 am (UGH) to make it, but it's near Chicago (i.e. watching the Lake and city from the sky) so it's bound to be worth it. Back on the road to the Windy City with (hopefully) the next stop being the Museum of Science and Industry. Because science, bitches! That evening it's a show at Second City (STOKED for that) and possibly going out, possibly sleeping. That in itself will be a long day. The next will be filled with Shedd Aquarium. VIP tickets include no lines (HA!), the jellyfish exhibit (JELLIES!), and the Stingray Touch. Not the dirty kind of tough, stay out of the gutter. Then an exhausted drive home. I'll need the extra day off from Labor Day. 

Then it's on to the next step. My sister lives in Paris right now, so I'm looking for tickets to visit for New Year's. Which sucks...looking for international flights absolutely sucks. Plus I'm looking at flying into Amsterdam and taking the train as an option as well as flying into Paris. Blerg. But, what better place to ring in the New Year? I mean, yeah, I'm sure there are better places...like not solo ones...but that's gotta be far up the list. 

So, anyway, less shopping and more doing. Who needs real friends? Memories are better...they don't change. 

Oh, here's a fun tidbit from this evening: I tried to act like an adult. I decided to stay in tonight and get some sleep for the race tomorrow. Then I thought I'd go get some eggs to make a good breakfast, and get gas so I didn't have to worry about it in the morning. And promptly locked my keys in the car. The universe obviously doesn't want me to be responsible. 

A little late, but I'm off to bed now. Au revoir!