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.