Well people, I’m officially in my thirties and I have surprisingly little to say about it. Although, I must admit I was slightly unhinged on the day. Having said that, my mental state is usually a bit volatile on birthdays.
Late June also saw the third anniversary of our nomadic lifestyle, which we honoured with an epic blog post, mostly in pictures, on our travel blog.
We’ve been doing an inordinate amount of travelling and socialising since we left Barcelona a couple of weeks ago, which is why the blog and my other social media scent trails have been a bit dead. After realising we could spent my birthday anywhere in Europe we decided on Iceland then quickly changed our minds when all the organising started feeling like work. We instead chose Provence, and got here at the perfect time for lavender fields, sunflowers and swimming in the calanques —- fjord-like inlets carved into the white limestone cliffs.
There was swimming, kayaking, cycling and oh yes, hot air ballooning:
There was also much meeting of new and interesting people. I definitely need to engineer more opportunities for this to happen as it’s one of my favourite things about life. I got a little bit down about not being able to spend this milestone birthday with friends and family but at the same time, I never would have made all the friends we’ve made if it weren’t for our nomadic lifestyle.
A Thought Experiment
I’m imagining showing this blog post to my adolescent self and saying “this is your life at 30”. I would have been agog at the dreams come true. Travelling Europe — long-term, no less! Cute boy in green to spend the rest of my life with. I’m painting again — something I dropped at the tender age of 16 because I’d decided I wasn’t good enough. Bless. And then there are the little miracles, which seemed equally as unattainable as the big ones — financial security, meeting new people with a distinct lack of terror, a sassy fringe.
That’s the funny thing about ageing. It’s painted with such a negative brush but if you’re doing it right, find a little luck, and are blessed with a little help along the way, life only gets better. I’m going to end this blog post pondering all the incredible things my life could be at 40 that seem like they would take a miracle, big and small, now.
Happy Birthday Katherine! It’s great to see your photos and the magical places you visit.
man o man how i admire what you are doing! happy birthday katherine!
Looks like a fabulous way to spend ANY birthday!
Thanks gals, it was a pretty Epic birthday month :) x
Oh this is so beautiful, Katherine! God, epic is a good word to describe your birthday month. The Cassis calanques, and now ballooning?! A very happy belated birthday to you, my dear.
xoxo
PS: I love this–
“That’s the funny thing about ageing. It’s painted with such a negative brush but if you’re doing it right, find a little luck, and are blessed with a little help along the way, life only gets better. I’m going to end this blog post pondering all the incredible things my life could be at 40 that seem like they would take a miracle, big and small, now.”
Belated Happy Birthday! I wanted to offer some reassurance. My 30th was the roughest of all my birthdays. My wife Pam and I had an infant crawling about, I had recently surrendered financially, given up the dream of being a photographer and was broking insurance in lower Manhattan — spending almost 4 hours a day commuting — a businessman in a suit and tie (!!)
That was all 32 years ago. I’ve now weathered birthdays 40, 50 and 60 and am a woodturner/shepherd most dabbling in digital music. Congrats!
Thanks so much Jim. Good lord, that does sound rough! I’ve already done the whole having a job I don’t like thing, although that was pre-professional artistry. I can imagine a job post-professional artistry would be a special kind of existential pain. I hope I shall never know :)