35 Down, A Lifetime to Go

Today, I turn 35 years old. I mostly forget that this site even exists, but a few days ago I came across a post from exactly 10 years ago, on my 25th birthday. It was exactly four posts ago, which isn’t exactly a testament to my dedication to blogging, nor a digital marketing “best practice.”

Looking over that short post, I can’t help but laugh at myself. I sounded like I had everything figured out, only to misattribute a quote to Mark Twain a couple sentences later. At the time, I was starting my career in digital marketing; didn’t I know how to fact check? Talk about a skill that comes in handy in 2021.

I won’t nitpick how I said “I now know what I want to do, where I want to go and who I want to be,” because that mostly holds up. I knew I wanted to work for myself, and I’ve been doing that for the past seven years. I knew where I wanted to go, and I’ve gone there (many places left on that list, however). At the time of writing that, I had been dating someone for a few months, and I’ve now been married to her for seven years (my first day of self-employment was the day before the wedding).

We’re expecting our second child in a month.

But do I really know what I want to do? Well, yes. But I also want to do a lot of things. There are many businesses I want to start. I have dozens of stories buzzing around in my head that I’m eager to get on paper. There’s so much I want to do with my family. Who knows. My only hope is that if I come across this site when I’m 45, I don’t shake my head at this post and wonder what the hell I’ve been doing for the past 10 years.

For the most part, I feel the same as 10 years ago. Here’s to many more.

… As I concluded that last sentence, I heard a familiar thud above my head, which was my 3-year-old falling out of bed. I went upstairs to help her back in, even though I knew she was snoozing on the pillow landing zone we left for her. She woke up only by the sound of me trying to leave her room, crying “Daddy!” So I sat a while. She woke up several times throughout the night, so I’m sitting here now on only a few hours of sleep, but couldn’t be happier. Life is good.