Thursday, March 01, 2007

The very last day of my 20's

Today is the very last day of my 20's, tomorrow morning at 6am, when I wake up I will be entering a new deceny. It is kind of scary and I have to admit that I was feeling irrationnally blue last weekend. But tonight I am feeling serene and fairly excited to start a new era of my life.

This morning, as I was driving in to work, I was contemplating my 20's, my dreams, my hopes, my achievements, my shortcomings and what actually happened instead of what I thought it'd be.

For starters, I thought I would have had a career in hotel management, and that I'd meet someone in my mid 20's and have children by the time I'm 28.

Instead...
1997 (20) I'm a student in hotel management in Paris, sharing a flat with my brother. I was already dating Alex for 6 months.
1998 (21) I graduated from my hotel management school. Got a job in Paris that was a disaster and moved to Malaysia in a hurry to join the Park Royal hotel in Penang
1999 (22) Mom and Dad had moved back to France, so I was living at Julien and Anna's while studying marketing and making a living out of baby sitting my mom's best friend kid, Kelly and working at the Alliance Francaise
2000 (23) I moved back to France for a while as I had visa problems, had a crap summer job and decided that I was not going to meet anyone better than Alex in this place, so I moved back to KL and moved in with Alex, absolutely skint and literally with just one suitcase
2001 (24) Alex Dad called in on a friend to help me get a job, the interview went well and I had a visa to stay in the country. I joined Extol where I worked 12 hours a day for a pathetic salary but was delighted
2002 (25) Julien and Anna moved from Penang to KL, so I spent a lot of time with them and Jacques who was 2 then. I remember looking forward to the weekends a lot. I spent most of the year organising a huge security conference, that is now organised every year
2003 (26) I remember I had a cool birthday party in Bangsar. Alex and I bought our first home together, a nice apartment with a gorgeous swimming pool.
2004 (27) Alex and I got married, went back to France for the wedding, it was lovely, then we had a quick honeymoon in Holland, staying with Neill and Chantal. By the end of the year, Papi Nono past away, and I hated being far from home, I hated being so bored in Malaysia, I was very frustrated not being able to travel bck home, or travel anywhere for that matter
2005 (28) I packed my bags, said my farewell and moved to England with just one suitcase (becoming a habit?) Before leaving, Alex and I had a proper honeymoon in Cambodia, with a three day adventure in Angkor. Spent a few months living left and right, looking for the right job, studying PRINCE2 (project management course)... until finally I got two job offers after 5 long months on my own, homeless yet determined - also thanks to friends like Sarah, Orla, Dan and Julie who took me in.
2006 (29) my best year of the deceny, I joined Verbatim on the 3rd of January, Alex joined me on time for my birthday, we moved to the lovely Kingston-Upon-Thames, got ourselves sorted and enjoyed all the concerts and shows and museums that I missed so much when I was in Malaysia.

So there... that's what I did in my twenties and tonight it's all behind me - somehow, it sounds like a large luggage to me and I can dump it.

Tomorrow is the first day of my thirties, what do I expect?
To remain the kid that I am at heart and lovely person that I think I am
To be a smarter person
To continue my prospective career at Verbatim
To start a family
To buy a house with a small garden
To travel the world, discover Japan, South Africa, Peru, the Grand Canyon and California and lots of lovely European cities.

I really look forward to my 30's.

7 comments:

Rockstar Mom said...

Thirty is great. Happy birthday!

Jeannie said...

The 30's were great for me. My 20's were turbulent but in a very different way than yours.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Anonymous said...

happy birthday & wishing u blessed with many many more wonderful years ahead of u, filled with joy and love and happiness

by Danie said...

On pense tres fort a toi aujourd'hui, mille baisers de papa maman

Anonymous said...

J'ai tout compris...euh, enfin presque! Je te souhaite pour cette nouvelle décennie que tous tes rêves se réalisent ou presque; ben oui,il faut en garder pour la quarantaine! Remarque, d'ici là, tu en feras d'autres. Bon anniversaire. Emilie

tweetey30 said...

Wow Helene. Its been rough for you. I think we would get a long great if we ever met in person. LOL.. I wont go through my life here. I dont want to take up to much space but maybe I will do mine sometime this month even though I turned 30 Jan 25th,07. Happy B-day and enjoy it. Its your day.

I will say one thing about the last few comments. If you want to travel and kids. They are hard to take with you but worth it let me tell you. Or wait till they are older to remember the trips. I love my girls but want them to be old enough to remember where we go and why.

That is a question you and Alex can make if that is what you want.You travel a lot with your job so its hard to make a decision like that also.Dont get me wrong I am not preaching. Just suggesting ok. Tweets.

Knock knock - it's cancer! said...

Helene- I turned 30 almost 2 years ago (yikes!) It's fantastic!! I thought it'd be a little more unsettling...but there's nothing greater than a woman who is mature enough to say and know what she thinks, and what she wants.

The 20's...they were great, but not comparible...

Welcome to our 30's CLUB! :-)