Turning 26 Has Been Fun, Thanks to Me (ok, and my friends too)

I was nervous about turning 26, as evidenced by the last few weeks’ worth of postings on getting older, fate and blah blah blah.

But I have to admit, now that the day has come and gone, it wasn’t so bad and because I had so much fun turning 26 I really can’t complain and can only hope that by starting the age off on the right foot that I am setting myself up for a good year.

It’s kind of like how my roommate once told me that if on New Years, at the stroke of midnight or right after, you should walk around the block (or whatever is handy) with a suitcase if you want to travel that year. So, on the New Year’s of 2004/2005, I did just that and sure enough, I went to like four countries and 12 cities that year. You can chalk it up to coincidence, but I didn’t do that on the 2005/2006 New Year’s and I’ve done very little traveling.

So, if I start out 26 by having fun, my batting average indicates that this should sustain itself and the year will be just fine. Until it’s time for me to turn 27 and we begin this process all over again.

However, exactly one week ago today, I headed to the Heaven on Earth that is Gainesville, Florida for a weekend reunion with my friends. None of us had been together in Gainesville since RR and I got up and out in 2003. Back then, I couldn’t wait to leave and get started with my life. I thought it would be kind of sad or bizarre to be back but in fact, it was the exact opposite. All I could do was smile. I just had so many good memories everywhere, and to be back with my friends was awesome. I snuck back into my old dorm with O-Shaw, which still smelled like a combo of Herbal Essences shampoo and ramen noodles, snapped some photos of my old dorm room, walked around campus, ate at my favorite pizza place, and generally behaved like a tourist.

However, my favorite moment was perhaps on the first night, when we went into a bar to grab a drink and no sooner had I sat down than I saw someone I knew across the bar. Just like old times! I don’t care how old you are, it’s always fun to go in some place and have to slowly make your way across because you have to stop and talk to everyone you know in there.

I think the most fun night was Friday, when the last clear thing I remember is taking my friend up on his offer of using his credit card at the bar and buying shots for everyone. Fast forward through some dancing and then I was getting a piggy back ride (which was offered to me by a hot kid and who am I to turn him down?) and eating fried chicken while in a nurse’s hat and using a stethoscope to check for heart murmurs and irregular heartbeats on people I didn’t really know.

Follow that up on Saturday with a one-point victory in the Swamp, resulting in only the absolute and sheer joy that something like that brings, getting a mild case of food poisoning but then rallying to go out again on Saturday night, which was considerably calmer than Friday but no less fun.

Then this Saturday, one final party with my friends here in NYC and my entry into 26 will be complete. And hopefully an entry that comes with the Gators getting into a national championship game. Fingers crossed.