Thirty

I'm going to be 30. In 76 days I will turn 30 years old. Two and a half months from today I will be the big 3-0. For 15 years, give or take, I have had strange, compulsive eating habits. Today that ended. A dear friend of mine gave me a wake-up call last night and showed me what I've been doing to myself. I have not been kind to myself. I have kept myself from doing what I want to do and being what I want to be. Today is the first day in years I feel 'food normal'. I won't go into the nitty gritty of what that means to me, but TODAY I feel like I'm living my vision of who I am.

I rode my bike to work. When people asked about it in the hallway I didn't downplay my distance or the temperature. I rode my bike in the cold and the rain and it was fun. Apparently I am the only teacher who rides to my school, and I where I normally skirt straight to the elevator, today I proudly wore my spandex shorts through the hallway.

When my students asked about my tattoo on my ankle I told them it was a race that took nearly 16 hours and it was amazing. I showed them the only circus trick I can still do safely in a classroom, I did a handstand on a chair. I've been hiding all these aspects of myself because they make me extraordinary, and I'm afraid to be different from the other teachers. I've fallen into the mold of frumpy, boring, 'be quiet', teachers. No longer!

Seventy-six days until I turn thirty. I want to arrive fresh, flipping, handstanding, triathloning, slightly irreverent, ruckus causing and happy.