30 Years

As both a milestone and a concept, "30 years" seems to be everywhere lately. Yesterday, I read numerous headlines about the 30th anniversary of Star Wars' release. My own 30th wedding anniversary is in a few weeks. At my son's college graduation at the end of April, I couldn't help thinking about my own graduation from the same university 31 years ago. I ran into one of my law school classmates in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago, and we were exclaiming over how it's been nearly 30 years since we left the U of C (that's Chicago, for you non-midwestern readers).

It could be for any one of these reasons (including, even, Star Wars, which I remember being dragged to in the summer of 1977 by my then brand-new husband; didn't like it), but I've been remembering what it felt like to be in my 20s. It seemed impossible then that anything relating to me would ever be 30 years ago. Now, practically all of the milestone events of my life (birth, education, marriage) are that far in the past or more, but 30 years as a concept still seems much longer than the amount of time I've been around. Interesting. I suppose the next meaningful 30-year milestone will be when my daughter is 30 in 2012. Yikes! It's alarming to think of having a 30-year-old child (not to mention a year with the label "2012"). Suppose I'll finally feel old then?? (I'm guessing not.)