Quarter century mark

I did it. I’ve arrived at the quarter century mark.

Yesterday was my 25^th birthday. It seems to be a remarkable number of years, judging from reactions I’ve been getting from birthday well-wishers. Some, like my colleague Alessandro, can’t understand why I’m happy to celebrate my birthday. “Ogni volta che compili gli anni vuol dire che hai uno meno da vivere” or in English, “Every year you celebrate another birthday it just means you have one year less to live.” His reasoning leads him to the conclusion that each birthday should be a mournful event, remembering the year gone by and grieving its loss. Hmm! Interesting, but I can’t say I agree. In my opinion, every birthday you have means that you’ve done well enough to keep yourself alive another year, which should certainly be celebrated. I mean it’s easy enough to live to be 5, you don’t really need to do that much considering you probably have someone looking out for you: giving you food, shelter, putting bandaids on your scraped knees, and making sure you get your vaccinations. But when you’re 25? Seems like the number of things to take care of grew exponentially from when I was 5, and what’s worse, I’m expected at this point to be able to take care of them myself. So far I’ve managed quite well, which is why I decided yesterday was a day to celebrate!

Hitting the ¼ century mark I somehow feel like I’ve entered adulthood. Not that anything in my life has changed, mind you, but it’s just something about that number, 25, that seems so grown-up. That’s why this year for my birthday bash we (my friends Maria, Cynthia, and I) decided it was time to kick-it up a notch and make the theme of the party “Creative Black Tie.” I figured at 25 it was about time I wear my first tie, and what better way to do so than in the company of my equally dressed peers?

Here are some shots taken at the party, enjoy!