Well, this column has been building up for four years now. I used to think I wouldn't be freaked out by admitting what I'm about to talk about, but as the day approaches, I'm in a full-scale freakout.
On Tuesday, I officially will be beginning the last year of my 20s. And I'm not too excited about it.
I remember writing this column, freaking out because I was turning 25. Well, that feeling went away after a while. I smartened up and realized that I had a ways to go before the big 3-0. Well now, that day is less than 375 days away.
I think the reason why I'm freaking out about turning 29 is because I know 30 is approaching, and I am not where I pictured by myself being when I hit the birthday milestone.
Working at the hometown newspaper, living with my parents and not being an inch closer to being married/starting a family obviously was not where I saw myself when I pictured going into another decade of my life. Yes, I know I have another year, but I don't see anything changing in the near future.
So coming to these realizations, I've decided to have a last year of my 20s bucket list. And I'm looking for some help on this.
I don't know what I want to do! As many people know, I'm kind of, sort of, maybe a partial workaholic, so I don't have a lot of "me" time, therefore bucket list items have never really crossed my mind.
And these things don't have to be daredevil, jump-out-of-a-plane type things, just things that I have always wanted to do and haven't done yet in my first 28 years.
A definite thing I want to do is see my beloved New York Mets play in New York. I missed my chance to see them at Shea Stadium, but before I turn 30, I want to see the Apple raised after a David Wright home run.
Secondly, I want to ski. It's something that I never was allowed to do while I was in high school (no dancer wants to get injured on a ski slope before competition season) and I just never picked up the sport. Every year, I'm asked to go by at least one person, but I always come up with an excuse. Not this year. This year, I ski.
And even if I don't actually get on the slopes, I bet I can pull off the cute ski bunny outfit and go sit in the lodge all day.
But what is sad, is that after those two things, I really don't know what I want to do. I can't believe that I'm a (still) young, energetic, single gal and I can't think of more than two things that I haven't done yet in my life that I want to do.
Maybe I have put too much of myself in to my work, and I have forgotten how to have fun. Maybe I'm just getting older and my interests are starting to fade away. Either way, I don't want that to happen. So I'm asking my readers to help me out with this one.
After writing this column for four years now, I think my readers have a pretty good idea of what I might or wouldn't like to do. I also know that I have some readers that are "older" and maybe there are some things they would have like to have done that they want to make sure I don't miss out on. I take any and all ideas.
So, for the next year, I have decided to dedicate some time and column space to "Dana's Before-30 Bucket List." Kind of like a "Julie and Julia," only without the movie and cooking.
So here's to the last year of my 20s - let's hope it's a good one.