...that moment you realize that some of your closest friends can keep a secret that you will remember for the rest of your life.

   Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years.  
Richard Bach (1936 -) Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
   

      Through the many years of my life, people have come and gone. Friends in grade school had turned into the same friends I had in high school as well as new friendships forming, until the day we graduated and we all parted ways. People never seem to really stick with you wherever you go. I have a core group of friends whom I see almost every weekend, whether it be just us girls for a wine and gossip night or everyone gathering around a table at a bar to watch a sports game. They are the same people who have been with me through almost everything I have gone through in my life and they will continue to be there. However, life has thrown me for a loop, once again, and brought 6 incredible people into my life. Sometimes I wish I had known them earlier in my life, to where even during the hard times, they were there for me. But for now, late in my adulthood, the timing couldn't be any more perfect.

     We all had met in one of the most interesting, yet comforting of places: Hanson concerts. (<< this subject deserves its own post, which I will touch on in the future). I had never been good at meeting new people, the shyness taking over, the anxiety of thinking whether or not these people were going to accept the craziness that I am. So of course I was scared. But they did and they have. Some live just an hour away (Sheboygan) so its just easy to hop in the car and drive to hangout and talk about almost anything. And the others live so many miles away in another state (OKLAHOMA) where you'd wish you could just show up on their doorsteps one night but you can't because it would take 17 hrs by car and whole lot of gas. But in the end, they are there through messages and texts and letters and cowboxes filled with glitter. 

    I remember one night, some of us were out to dinner discussing one of the girl's upcoming baby shower, and another girl had asked me what I was doing for my birthday. And that is where everything had started:
     
     Months leading up my, what I like to call, my epic birthday (and I say epic, because you only turn 30 once), I was toying with different theme ideas. I'm a person who plans, a person who themes pretty much everything (lets be real here, my room growing up went from JUNGLE THEME to STARS AND MOONS) and a person who wants people to enjoy their time with me. Some the ideas that I had come up with was 'MOURNING 20's' to 'LISA FRANK' to just going to a classy wine bar like real adults. The 'MOURNING 20's' was going to consist of everyone wearing all black because it was my last year as someone in their 20s. But that idea just didn't stick. The second idea, 'LISA FRANK' was starting to sound interesting. Everyone would wear bright colors and I'd give away 'adult treat bags (wine, stickers, blowers, and the famous LIPSMACKERS) to every girl like it was a 90's party. So, that was the plan. I made the invite on the book and started inviting people.

   I invited the usual group that I hang around with, the ones who I have shared every single birthday with from the time I turned 21 and beyond. As I was making the guest list, I added my 'S' friends to the list along with my OK friends (the OK friends were just for kicks because with everyone's crazy schedules, they weren't going to hop on a plane or drive just for one weekend). Everyone replied 'YES' to my invite and the planning began.

    It was time to start shopping for my outfit. I had something specific in mind, but I just couldn't find it. I complained numerous times to the girls, saying if I didn't find an outfit I was canceling my birthday. But that was out of the question, they had said. I was going to have a birthday and that was that. One of my OK friends had texted me one day while I was at work, really sad that she couldn't be there to share the day with me and my heart felt crushed. I had wanted everyone to be there. We had shared such a special bond and having them there would have been one of the greatest things. We had joked many times throughout the months that I was going to invite HANSON to my party or that the OK girl's were going to have dinner with them and send us selfies. It was funny yet sad all at the same time, because like I had said, I had wanted them to be there.
   
        Weeks and weeks went by before my party (it was the weekend before my ACTUAL birthday) and the 'S' girls and I had planned on going to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate my birthday and another girl's birthday together. We had planned on a Friday, because the girl who is going to have a baby couldn't make it to my actual party due to doctor's orders. We were going to wear Hanson shirts because it was going to be T.Hans' birthday the next day. (Way to many birthdays to keep track of I know, but thanks for keeping up so far. You're doing great.) This was fine with me. Celebrating my birthday twice was fine and with some very special people it was even more grand.

         Fast forward to Friday, when I was driving to the restaurant, stuck in traffic as the OK girls were texting me outfits that they were planning on wearing when they went to dinner with HANSON. Getting irritated with the traffic and being almost late to my own dinner, I had said some not so nice things as the 'S' girls kept telling me to hurry up. After finding a place to park, I met up with everyone and just started to rant about how the OK girls were probably sharing cheesecake with Zac Hanson and how I hated my birthday and didn't want to have one because I was so frustrated. The girls told me to stop and to just enjoy dinner. Whatever. I still complained in my head. Don't judge me.

       Anyways, walking into the restaurant, I composed myself and thought about other things such as which cheesecake I was going to choose (let's be serious, they have like 500 kinds, its a difficult decision!!!!). Little did I and the other awesome birthday know is that sitting in the booth, not facing us of course, was the OK girls, dressed in Hanson tee shirts, yelling 'SURPRISE'!!!. Overcome with emotions, from 'what the heck is going on right now' to 'omg I hate all of you for this trickery' to 'OH GOODNESS YOU'RE REALLY HERE!!!', it was a surprise for sure. There were tears and laughter and screaming and more laughter amongst all of us. And it was incredible.  As we all finished screaming in the Cheesecake Factory (and to any patrons who's dinners we disrupted, my apologies, but get over it. You don't know us and we like to be loud. bye), we piled in the booth and started freaking out as to how everyone, but the other birthday girl and I, kept such trickery from us. The OK girls told us the story and as I listened I was in awe. Here I was, surrounded by not just the 4 amazing girls whom I called some of my best friends, but 2 who also came from such a far off place to join us for our birthdays. I had realized I was truly blessed with incredible things in my life as a 30 year old...so far. I wasn't aware of what anyone was planning without my knowledge and I was glad that I didn't know. If I had known, I honestly think it wouldn't have been as special as it was.

   With all this that was happening around me, the weekend, my life, everything was off to such a wonderful start. For some people, friends may come and some may go. That's not the case with me. As far as the ones who are there from such a short beginning, from the time we had met we have been inseparable, even if we are in such different places. I will carry this memory for the rest of my life and cherish it in my heart always, as with many memories that just haven't happened yet.

...it is perfectly acceptable to wake up the week of your 30th birthday completely freaked out.

     Well..this is it. You're 30. And still alive. No damage done here. It's a big milestone, or so they say. Looking back, so many people have said turning the big 3-0 is a life changing event, where you're supposed to feel older, look older (or in this case, you look the same and get carded at every bar you try to go to) and your life has changed.
  
    Well, newsflash, it's still the same. You wake up every morning and go to the same job, with the same people, the same routines. Over and over and over. It could be worse, however, but in actuality its not. In the movies, typical 30 somethings have high paying jobs (lets be serious, they went to a 4 year and had internships...), wear pants suits (if you're reading this and wear a pants suit, my apologies. It looks good on you, really.), and live in penthouse apartments (fact: you don't live in a penthouse, you live at home. still. We can address that later). 

      The upcoming months leading up to your birthday was taking a look back on the 29 years you have been on this Earth. Pulling out the old, dusty photo albums, you peek through the first years: tear stained baby face, dirty rompers from playing in the dirt, and awkward pictures with Santa fill up the pages. Innocence at its finest. For sure. Moving right along to the more embarrassing years (and I do use the term embarrassing, because coming later in the week 6 of your closest friends will gather around on your bed and look at a picture of you dressed in a sunflower outfit made by your mom, and laughter will fill the room.), you find yourself in photos from the stages of your life when you tried every sport grade school had to offer (failed at that), attended school dances with your friends in bad 90s fashion, and throwing numerous birthday parties with girls from your class all in awkward stages of your lives (you did crafts, went ice skating, it was a treat in itself actually). Those years of your life shaped you, defined who you were and who you were to become when you enter high school.  Those were the good years. You sit back and ask yourself questions such "Why in the world did I do that?" "Or what was I thinking when I wore that?" and then you know the answers: childhood. end of story.

       Fast forward to the start of your birthday week (and you say birthday week because you're actual birthday falls on a Tuesday, so in hindsight you actually celebrate the weekend before). People at work have been playfully teasing you about turning 30 to the point where you give them the death stare and say "Don't push it", but in reality you are kind of excited. You have some sort of birthday party planned where all your friends are going to come and have a great time (you even made treat bags!) so all in all, you'll ring in your 30th with a bang. Then, as the week dredges on, you panic. You want to cancel your birthday because you cant seem to find one damn outfit to match the theme of your birthday, (yes you themed your birthday party which you will touch on later) and you just don't want to 30. ANYMORE. Its not going to happen. If you could stop time, you would. So that you didn't have to turn 30. But then again,  you will wake up wanting to start this new stage in your life, awaiting the new challenges life will throw at you.

    Coming up to the weekend, you feel like things are starting to pick up. You will go to dinner with 4 of your closest friends to celebrate two birthdays, and then the big party will happen. Turning 30 will seem to be okay, you'll get though it easily just like any other day. Any other day in your crazy, mixed up, neon painted, laughter filled life.

    So, as you write this blog, navigating this new point in your adulthood, you encourage your readers to take a look into your life as30 year old who has the mindset of a teenager (because, lets be honest, you cant be serious all the time..now can we?) but also going through the tough times of growing into an adult who might just change the world.