Life. It's beautiful, confusing, frustrating, unpredictable, and fleeting all rolled into one. And yet so many of us so easily forget what it means to actually LIVE while we are alive. Instead we settle into routines predicted for us by society: go to school, find work, get married, have children, get old, die. Even day-to-day, we fall into the comfort of the familiar: a morning trip to Starbucks, a routine phone call to a loved one, an 8-hour work day punctuated by a scheduled TV line-up. And whose to say that, for some, that's not fulfilling? Certainly, I am no one to judge the habits of others; but what I do know is this: If life so kindly blesses me with many years upon this Earth, it would be a disappointment for me to reflect back and realize that I spent my precious time playing it safe and going through the motions.
You see, two years ago, my grandfather passed away from undiagnosed, stage 4 colon cancer. Just a few months ago, my house mother from my sorority succumbed to brain cancer. Last year, one of the kindest men at my workplace was ravished by the disease in his pancreas in only a matter of months. And yesterday, a friend of mine from college passed away after a brave battle with bone cancer. She was 25 years old.
The truth is that I've been planning to embark on the journey that this blog will document for about a month now, but the sudden sadness that has overcome me in the last 24 hours at the news of my friend's passing has been the push of inspiration that I needed to get started.. The specifics of my friend's story are not mine to tell, so I will cease from elaborating; however, the broader note of living while one is alive is ever more poignant knowing how quickly it can be taken from you.
With all of this said, I welcome you to 30 Things Before 30. In an effort to infuse continuous excitement and multi-faceted experiences into my life, I have developed a "bucket list" of sorts -- a list of 30 new, challenging, and sometimes scary things that I vow to do in the next 3 years before I turn 30. The list, in summation, is years of dreams, fears, hopes and wishes rolled together -- there was no specific rhyme or reason for choosing a particular item other than a latent desire to say "I did X." Regardless, I am so excited to get started and see how I grow along the way.
Before I leave you for the evening, I'll say that in general, future blogs will be much more conversational and casual than this introduction. They'll also likely be shorter and filled with more pictures than words. However, to get us started, I felt that I needed to give a bit of explanation as to why I am embarking on this quest. Granted, as we go along, I may occassionally feel that "writer's bug" that spawns more enlightened prose, but my intention is not to alienate or bore with elevated, flowery speech! I hope that you will choose to follow this blog, and in doing so, follow me as I begin this exciting journey!
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1 comments:
Gabby, I'm so sorry to hear about your friend's passing. I understand what it's like to realize that life is a very precious thing that we shouldn't waste and we are fortunate just to be here. I'm proud of you for stepping out of that comfort zone we so often stay wrapped in. It's a scary thing to do but one that is so worth it. I cannot wait to see what comes next!
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