Old

I turned 26 in August. Since then I've struggled a bit with feeling "old." Now, though, I don't think my struggles have been so much with feeling "old," but with feeling unsatisfied. It's funny how life is never what you think it will be. I thought I would be happy and fulfilled by being a stay-at-home-wife to an Army guy. Turns out that's not really the case. Instead of doing anything about that over the last four years, I've pretty much done nothing. I suppose I took one small step in the right direction a year ago when I applied for and started graduate school. (I finished my second semester last week and am totally rocking a 4.0!) I guess I just thought things would be different for me at 26. Honestly, though, I'm not sure what I even thought would be so different. When I was younger I always thought I'd have kids by this point, but due to circumstances (*cough* deployments *cough*) that hasn't happened yet. Really I just thought that this Army life would be enough for me. Maybe it's not.

We are moving in early March and I have high hopes that a new place will be just what I need to sort of start over. I want to start our family and get a job and have a house that isn't attached to neighbors on two sides. I want to put down some roots and fall in love with where I'm living. I'm not naive and I'm making an effort to keep my expectations in check, but I'm ready for something new. I'm ready to say goodbye to Louisiana (although it will always have a special place in my heart) and move somewhere with a freaking Target less than an hour away! Priorities, people!

I've thought a lot about this stuff over the last few months, but watching a recent episode of Glee yesterday really sort of drove it home. The episode ended with a song ("We Are Young" by fun.) that raced up the iTunes charts after the episode aired. It's ridiculously catchy, but the repeating line of we are young echoed in my mind. I am not old. I am only 26. I have so many years ahead of me and experiences waiting to be had. I don't want to wish this part of my life away. I don't want to one day regret rushing through my twenties. So, I'm going to try not to. And when it gets hard I'll try to remember that...

Tonight

We are young

So let's set the world on fire

We can burn brighter than the sun