Happy birthday ... to me.

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 24.

It's incredible to me. Even as I look at the number, I can't believe it. When my students asked me how old I was and I replied, "Twenty-four," some of the girls responded, "I didn't know you were that young," which prompted the boys to joke, "Any day now you'll be over the hill." I replied, "I know! It's getting to the point where I can say, 'Twenty years ago...' and actually remember what happened!"

Which got me thinking.

I had a lovely birthday yesterday. The weather was beautiful and since it's Easter weekend, I have several days off from school now. I got loads of wonderful presents from my fam, including a new DVD/VCR combo and several books and movies I'd been coveting. My mim and I went grocery shopping for Easter dinner on Sunday and it was nice to spend time with her, I'm currently rereading one of my all-time favorite books (Jennifer Crusie's Welcome to Temptation) which is one of those books that makes me feel happy just looking at it, and my dog was behaving herself for a change. All in all, it was perfect.

And even so, when I went to bed, I turned out my light earlier than I usually would so I could float in the darkness and let my age and memories and feelings wash over me. I had a perfectly lovely day, and although it's not as traumatic as my last birthday was, I felt awash with feelings of nostalgia and change, all swirled into one indefinable emotion. I like to be able to identify my emotions, so it's particularly puzzling when I'm unable to. I guess it's just as my mother told me last year, "Birthdays are emotional." What I'm discovering more and more is that--they are.

They signify age and mortality, and yet, inevitably, I reflect back on previous years and feel youthful as well. They signify achievement--look at all I've done--and unconquered dreams--here's what I still want to do. They make me reflective and dreamy and hopeful and inspired and, well, emotional. And even though I'm one big ball of confusion, I still can't help but think: ooh, I can't wait until next April 14th!

It's reassuring that as I approach mid-twenties, part of me set up camp along time ago in the single digits.