The Next Decade.

A week ago, I turned thirty years old. Thirty. Three. Zero. A new decade. The third decade of my life.

Now, I'm excited about this new decade I've ventured into, don't get me wrong. But when you run a blog titled Roaring Through my Twenties, you can imagine the kind of snag you hit when you suddenly wake up and find you are no longer a member of the twenty-something set.

No longer in your twenties.

Wow.

(Sorry. I just needed one quick moment. It still kind of shocks me to say that out loud.)

Of course, it wasn't a surprise that I rolled into my thirties when I did. I may not be the worlds greatest mathematician but I knew the big day was coming, I knew I'd soon be bidding adieu to a life spent roaring through my second decade. What I didn't know was what in the world I was going to call my blog moving forward.

Sure, I'd been thinking about it for many months. I even had a small running list of potential titles up on my refrigerator...but none of them seemed just right. Some people suggested I just change the title to "Roaring through my Twenties and Thirties." I dismissed that though, explaining that the whole word play on the Roaring 20's would be lost if I threw in another decade. I couldn't very well continue along with a play on historical decades either, because as you all know, with the 1930's came THE GREAT DEPRESSION and who the heck wants THAT as a blog title?

I had one title kicking around in my head quite a bit, one I'd even started saying out loud to my brother last November. He'd kind of shrugged when I first mentioned it (while we were standing inside a charming boutique near his California home) telling me that "he'd think about it."

"You don't like it."

"No, it's not that, I just think you should somehow reference writing or something in there too."

So I stewed on that suggestion for a few months, but couldn't decide on anything else I liked better. I didn't want cheesy, I didn't want lame. I kept coming back to this one title, which made me feel I should just use it already and stop second guessing myself.

Then, on September 21st, 2009 I turned 30. My brother called me from Afghanistan to wish me a happy birthday, which won the gold star for best gift this year. After a few false starts, he and I got a good phone connection and were able to chat for over an hour. This was wonderful for many reasons, the biggest one being that when you get to connect with someone you haven't been able to talk to since July and you get an hour? You're able to get past the standard "how are you, yes it's hot, I'm fine, I miss you" chatter and just talk about, well, life.

Which led to my brother asking me: "So, Kel, what are you going to rename the blog?"
I told him the name I'd decided upon.
Silence.
At first, I blamed the delay (because of course, a call between Boston and Afghanistan has a delay) so I waited a minute.
Silence.
"Steve? Are you there?"
"Yeah, Kel, I'm here, I'm here."
"Well, what do you think? You don't like it?"
"Um, it's not that I don't like it, it's just that I don't understand what it means."

Of course, this made me laugh, which made my brother laugh, which carried us along to our next conversation piece. New blog still unnamed.

After I hung up the phone with Steve, I thought about how maybe I just couldn't please everyone. Maybe that title was fine anyway and I should go ahead and use it. Then I went out for a birthday dinner with some of my nearest and dearest girlfriends. Towards the end of the night the same question came up about my blog. Buoyed by several glasses of (pink!) champagne, I decided I'd tell them.

I was met with blank stares, silence.

So I nixed the title.

I gave myself a week off from this blogging schtick, actually debated if I should even keep blogging now that I'm 30 (an adult?) but I missed the ritual of writing about things in my life, observations and stories too much. After all, when everything is said and done this blog is for me. Sure, it's for you guys who come here and read and comment and share too, (I love that!) but I alone control the publishing key; these are my stories to tell.

So, without further adieu, I give you Working Title. Some of you may love it, some of you may hate it, some of you would stare at me blankly while holding a glass of (pink!) champagne in your hand were I to tell you this in person.

And who knows? I may have a stroke of genius, a grand idea may just come to me in the middle of the night and I'll decide I want to try something new or different instead of Working Title. I reserve that right.

Still, for now, we are here in Working Title Land. After all, that's what all of this is isn't it? A wild, crazy, ride of a life, one that's constantly evolving, growing, changing, moving forward, and - yes - working toward all the goals, dreams, and hopes each and every one of us has. Rest assured I've got my eye on quite a few lovely aspirations for my third decade. Right now though, I'll just keep my summary simple: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

(Who says our forefathers weren't ahead of their time, eh?)

I hope if you knew me, met me, befriended me during my twenties that you'll stick around while I write about my thirties. Something tells me it's going to be one very interesting ride.

******

(The housekeeping stuff: No, Roaring Through My Twenties did not disappear. If you view my blogger profile you'll still be able to access that blog, should you wish to read through archives. I've switched out domain names, so anyone who linked to Roaring... should now automatically be linked to Working Title. (www.kellismusings.blogspot.com) Feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email if this is not the case.

I'm slowly building this site - HTML is certainly not my forte - so you'll have to bear with me while I work on making it pretty. Blog links are coming, so is an About Me section, so are Labels for each post. You know how it is = us old folks just have to take it one blogging step at a time.