Today is the 10th Anniversary of my 30th Birthday

• September 14, 2011
• 23 notes
• #Sept. 11
• #10 years later
• #getting old
• #40

Ten years ago, I turned 30. 

The main thing I remember about my 30th birthday was how frickin’ depressing it was. Not in the normal, wow-I’m-not-young-anymore sort of way, I mean really, hard core depressing. That day, September 14, 2001, was the National Day of Mourning for the 9/11 attacks. Being unemployed, I sat at home and watched the service in the National Cathedral and President Bush’s impromptu speech at Ground Zero.

The overwhelming feeling that I had, both personally and for the country, was an extreme sense of uncertainty. I had no idea if the entire economy would collapse and if there would ever be decent jobs available for me again. My wife, who had joined the Marine Corps while in law school, would certainly have a job, but that job might now involve extended visits to Afghanistan and/or Iraq. And, of course, I was turning 30 - a nice, round number that indicated the end of my youth.

Looking back on things, ten years later, I’m amazed with how well things have gone. For me personally, I’ve managed to pump out three great kids and and figured out how to have a career. For the country, we didn’t come close to the worst-case scenarios we were all thinking about that day. We all were pretty sure that we were entering an Israeli-like era of constant car bombings and suicide attacks. The fact that there hasn’t been one additional terrorist incident in the last ten years is actually truly amazing.

Of course, this means that I’m turning 40 today (man, that’s hard to type). But I can say that I enter the next ten years with a lot more confidence than the last ten. And considering that the last ten worked out ok, I suppose the next ten will be even better. Even if they will most likely be filled with nagging shoulder problems and figuring out how to pay for college.