So, the September swoon is almost over and the greatest month on the calendar and the most exciting 31 days in the history of mankind are upon us. October brings with it all the things that make it special to me personally. Chief amongst them is my birthday and this year, I’ll be celebrating my 30th. It wasn’t so long ago that I thought of 30 as the “old folks age” but now that I’m staring it right in the face, I kinda have a slightly different tone towards it. As my Road to October 24th begins the final stretch tomorrow, I usually do something unique to celebrate myself for the last 23 days leading up to my birthday since I’m horrible at spoiling myself at all other times. This year, I had planned to take a month off and spend a day in 23 different cities across North America, starting with what was supposed to be my Miami debut and ending with my biennial visit to Vancouver. But, in reading old entries out of Triumphs & Tribulations for the Flashback Friday moments, I realized that there were a lot of people that have affected my life over the 14 years I’ve written the journal. And even stretching back before I started writing, there were people who had impacts. So that led me to this grand idea of celebrating the people who factored into me getting to 30. Over the next 24 days—including my birthday—I’ll write a post a day, detailing the story of a person who had a significant impact on my life in this lead up to 30. In the post, I’ll write about my history with that person, the pivotal moment with them, and how their presence and/or actions factored into me getting to where I am now.
Aside from possibly being practice for NaNoWriMo, I think this will be a great concept and it gives me a moment to live in the past. 2 of the 24 people are already locked in: my mom, which will be the October 1st post and God, which will be the October 24th post. The key for me is to narrow down the long list of the others to 22. Keep in mind, I’ve written entries in Triumphs & Tribulations since October 3, 2000 and I’ve detailed hundreds of impact moments in the 14 volumes to date. That only covers half my life. The other half are littered with memories from deep in my childhood that are etched into my remembrance. I know for sure that there will be members of my family among the 24. It’s possible that all of my co-best friends will be among the 24. There will be at least one person who is no longer living among the 24. My archrival may have a spot in the 24. There may even be a now 5-year-old in the 24 as I could chronicle her impact on me when she was just a baby. Those final 22 spots could be anybody. And that is what makes this truly exciting in my book. These next 3 ½ weeks are gonna be fun times.
