30.

Today is my thirtieth birthday.

In honor of this day, a day I think is a pretty big milestone, I'm going to write thirty things I learned in my twenties.

Here goes (in no particular order):

1.  Love is a choice.

2.  No matter what you think, having a child WILL change you.

3.  It is possible to change a poopy diaper without gagging.

4.  The dreams you have in college, high school - those dreams are not the only dreams you will have in your life.

5.  The things you thought impossible in your childhood are truly possible and accomplishable today.

6.  Worrying is not the same as caring about people.

7.  The choices you make when you're nineteen aren't so wise as you thought they were.

8.  I am an organized person.

9.  In order to get what you need, sometimes you need to be a bitch.

10.  Even though everybody hates the bitch, she gets what she wants and doesn't get fired.

11.  The older you get, the faster time goes.

12.  Without God, life is empty.

13.  Trust is more important than humor.

14.  Sometimes it's okay to walk away when someone hurts you.

15.   Family is more important than career advancement.

16. The things you learn in the first decade of your life stick with you forever.

17.  The public school system is a broken disaster area.

18.  No matter how much of yourself you pour into someone or something, there is always the possibility that that person or thing will betray you.

19.  Most people want to do the right thing.

20.  Your mental disorder does not equal your identity.

21.  There are things that I will never understand.

22.  Holidays are still just as important now as they were when I was a little girl.  This includes birthdays.

23.  Sleepovers are not as fun for the parents.

24.  It's okay to be friends with girls.  This gets easier after you're married.

25.  Everything can heal with time.

26.  The grass is not always greener, but at least it's different grass.

27.  Stereotypes are what you make them.

28.  Bigger is not always better.

29.  You must be the change you wish to see in the world - if you can follow these wise words from Ghandi, you will have the pleasure of noticing as the world does in fact, gradually change.

30.  The Lord will give you your heart's desires, though your heart does not always desire what you think it does.