Oh Hai 26

A lot can happen in a year. I turned 25 reflecting on feeling like a grownup, and things I wouldn’t be. I’ve been expecting to have a crisis about turning 26, but I’m surprisingly okay with it.

A year ago I was coming out of a failed relationship, a paper rejection, and not having graduating on my (admittedly insane) goal schedule of 4 semesters. I was just about to start Extreme Blue – thinking that was the start of my career, but still clueless as to what my career would look like.

OK, I didn’t graduate on any kind of schedule. But I have two papers out. Extreme Blue was extremely awesome. I have the best job, I can’t believe how lucky I am and how amazing my colleagues are. I’m still figuring out what my career will look like, but I feel like it’s going in the right direction.

Awesome Ottawa is still going. Awesome Foundation KW will give our first award next week. Girl Geek Dinners KW has a speaker and tentative date for the end of this month. I live alone in a loft full of art. My boyfriend lives in the same building, which is pretty ideal. We’ve known each other for a long time, in fact we were in the same tutorial in first year. Things started changing a year ago – when we were in Seattle, he was there for work and I figured it was a good place to go for my birthday – and he moved to Canada just over a month ago.

Turning 25 was something of a low point, or came when I happened to be at a low point. But being 25 has been good to me; new people, new experiences, new places. Sure, some failures, but if I’m not failing I’m not pushing myself – as long as I learn from them, which I hope I have.

I don’t love the thought of being closer to 30 than 20. I have a lot left to do whilst I’m in my twenties! But, I’m tremendously fortunate, and it’s hard to get too upset about time passing, when the time I’m having is so good.

Anyway, I’m 26. It’s OK.