Mid-Twenties

My little sister turned 24 today.
She posted on her Facebook about how she felt old...because she's almost in her mid-twenties. I thought it was kind of funny, but I just sort of shrugged it off. Yet, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I am in my mid-twenties. I am right there, in the midst of it all.
I don't think I got the opportunity this year to really contemplate my birthday and getting older...and turning 25. With everything that was going on with my uncle and my crazy obsessive three months, I don't think I truly stopped to ponder what it means to be 25. I am in my mid-twenties. I am no longer closer to being a teenager than I am to 30. I am well on my way there. Less than 5 years away.
So I started thinking about where I was at 20, 5 years before now. How different my life was back then. Josh and I became friends and started dating when I was 20. I experienced that wonderful "first kiss" with him that year. We dated...broke up...got back together...broke up...got back together that year. But the day I turned 20, I had no idea any of that would happen. I never would have guessed that 5 years from that day, I would be married to Josh, who I barely even knew at the time. In fact, I remember on that birthday, I had given up the idea of having a boyfriend for awhile. I had been single for a year and a half and had been hoping to find Mr. Right in the near future. But when I turned 20, I gave it up to God and said, "Whenever you want to bring him along, that's fine. But I'm done looking". Funny how God works sometimes, huh?
Now, I sit here at 25, looking back on the last 5 years, and wondering what the next 5 have in store for me. There are definitely a few things I would like to happen in that time frame, but realistically, there is no way for me to know that they will. But that's the thing I love about dreams...
Dreams give me so much hope. I love it when that moment comes in the middle of the day, when a wonderful idea or thought pops into my head and I think, "Yeah, I'd like it". I dream of what those things would be like in my life, how different they would make my world, and how much I'd enjoy them. It's those dreams that make this short road to 30 seem more bearable.
Someone asked me the other day if the thought of being 30 scared me. But the truth is, it really doesn't. The day I turn 30 might scare me a little, knowing my twenties will be gone, but I think 30 is going to be amazing.
I guess I just like to look at it in light of how the 20s have been so far. While I've had my share of heartaches and trials, I've had so many wonderful blessings to make up for them. I can't even imagine how different my life would be at this point if my 20s would have gone differently...even in the slightest way. These past 5 years have molded me, changed me, and shaped me into the woman I am today. The woman who is eagerly looking forward to what the next 5 years hold. The woman who is trying to live every moment and enjoy what it brings, knowing that the moment after it is going to bring even more amazing things.
So I am embracing this place in life, these mid-twenties. I don't feel old, but I definitely feel older than I did at 20...but in a good way. I feel more mature, more relaxed, more focused, and more excited about life. And that is what makes the mid-twenties worth it.