Big Three-Oh

Yesterday, somewhere in the air between Charlotte, NC and Boston, MA (probably a good deal closer to the former than the latter) I passed the point at which I had been alive for exactly thirty years--an interesting milestone (or is that a millstone? I'm not sure). Really, I don't feel much different at 30 than I did at 29. Or 28, or any other age for the better part of the last decade.

My life has, of course, changed a good deal between when I was 20 and now that I am 30. It's an eventful decade when you stop and look at it. I concluded a successful college career, spent two years in graduate school (which also had a relatively successful conclusion--eventually), had my first "real" job teaching, and now have changed jobs. The past decade has seen three pretty serious Relationships, including the one I'm currently in which--thankfully--is the best of them. Very early in this decade I became close with the person I consider my best friend and that relationship has been an important part of my life for that whole time as well. I've lived in 6 apartments, my mother's house, and a dormitory--encompassing five towns/cities/villages--in the last decade. I've paid off a new car and bought an electronic piano and a bunch of other junk, much of which I probably didn't need. I've learned a lot and probably forgotten a lot. I've had a number of wonderful people enter my life, some of whom are still very important to me while others have moved to the sidelines or out of my life entirely. They've all contributed to who I am. Ten years ago, I couldn't have said where I'd been now, and I won't try to predict where I'll be in ten more years. I discovered blogging. I've sung in four different choral groups and spent seven of those years directing one or more choirs. I've read close to 400 books in the past decade. If you'd asked me a decade and a half ago, I would have expected that I would have written at least one book by now, but life hasn't played out that well. A decade ago, I wouldn't have thought of myself as a composer, but now I do, even if I haven't written as much music as I would like to have written. I've discovered quite a few bands in the past decades and seen more live music performances than I saw in the previous two decades combined. I've discovered the work of composers I didn't know and authors I didn't know and been enriched by all of these discoveries. I've grown facial hair, shaved it, and decided I should always keep some or risk my face looking even funnier than it would otherwise (and risk looking younger than my students). A decade ago, tennis was a hobby at best, but I've managed to put together several years of coaching of which I am proud. I have taught roughly 540 students, lived in dorms with roughly 140 students, and coached about the same number in various sports.

How do you measure a decade? Or three?

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