The Dreaded 30

Guest Post by Jamie M.

I had been dreading turning 30 for years. At my 21st birthday, and then again at 27 and 29 (yikes, so close!), I knew that 30 sounded like the oldest possible age I could ever picture myself turning. It had become the benchmark for the end of my young life, and each time a friend posted on Facebook about their 30th, I shuddered at how I was inching closer to the milestone myself. I silently begged the big 3-0 to stay the heck away.
 
But then in my late 20s, I made a decision. Age 30 was coming whether I liked it or not, so I better start thinking about what I want my third decade in life to look like. I had been working as a magazine editor at the same job for almost 5 years, a job that I loved and had worked really hard to get to, but I had reached the pinnacle of where I could go with the small company. And I had always wanted to go back to grad school. So I did. All the way across the country in New York City.
 
Around then, my long-time roommate/friend Kerri spent her 30th birthday in Belize diving and zip-lining, and I finally had an epiphany. If I had to turn 30 anyways, I was doing it in style. I had always wanted to visit Hawaii, so I started asking everyone I knew which islands they had been to, and which experiences in the Aloha State they had adored most. All roads kept pointing back to lush, quiet Kauai. The island had everything I was looking for: verdant green hikes, waterfalls, fruit markets, calm ocean waters, a lack of rain in November, and the absence of any of the crazy, developed hotels and waterfronts that existed on some of the other islands.
 
I invited my 3 college roommates, Kerri, my sister, and a few others, and assumed that if I had those people committed, then I could invite whomever I wanted once the trip was for sure a go. We talked about this on my 29th birthday when we were all together, and everyone agreed that they would 100 percent be in for the trip. As the year went on, life changed, people moved or changed jobs, changed situations, and my big birthday trip turned into a 3-person jaunt. Myself, and my 2 college roommates: Annie and Elise.
 
The birthday approached, and grad school ramped up into crazy status. I was semi-regretting planning the trip with the amount of work I had to finish in my last semester of journalism school, and the fact that I would only be able to make a quick stop at my parents for Thanksgiving before leaving for the trip (therefore missing all kinds of quality family time.) But the minute I stepped off the plane in Kauai, I have never been more grateful that I loved myself enough to plan this trip.
 
I landed in Kauai at 10 am, and the girls weren’t going to be arriving until the evening. I had the whole first day to myself to get our Jeep rented, explore the winding island roads and ocean views, dip my toes in the sand, take a shower, and show up to the airport for my loves with a fresh faced, sundressed smile. And they came to the curb already wearing fresh-flower leis, with a pink, fragrant one for me. Game on.
 
My parents gifted us the apartment for a birthday present (bless their hearts), a huge beach cabana with kitchen so we could cook, and plenty of room for the six or so people that were originally meant to come. We were living like queens with only 3 of us.
 
The girls wanted to do a helicopter ride—I agreed, but only if it was the very first thing on the first day, so I wouldn’t have to be nervous about it the whole trip. It was terrifying, and I kissed the ground when we landed, but the views and the experience were unlike anything else I have done. (Annie gifted me a “good luck turtle” from the gift shop around the corner before we boarded the ‘copter.)
 
We ate cold coconuts, took a surf lesson, snorkeled, went to a luau, followed the road around the entire island and explored anything that looked fun along the way, put flowers in our hair, listened to Hawaiian music on the radio with the windows down in our bright red Jeep. Oh, and I managed to write a 3,000 word final story for grad school, all before noon.
 
And as it turns out 30 really wasn’t so bad after all. I spent the dreaded day surrounded by two of my favorite people, sharing a papaya and a world-famous macadamia nut cinnamon roll at the Hanalei Bay Wake Up Café, chasing after waterfalls, and climbing swinging bridges. Life is all about the experiences you make, and 30, my friends, was a good one.