Looking back into my 20's: The Bethany-Kiko Era and Outkast

I'm turning 30 tomorrow.

A lot has happened in the last ten years.

When I was 20yrs old, I was at Covenant College.

21yrs old: Lived back home in Japan

22yrs old: Back to Covenant

23 yrs old: Moved in with Bethany Franks Weaver - Graduated from Covenant

24 yrs old: Almost kicked out of the Country

25 yrs old: Grad School

26 yrs old: Graduated from Grad School with a MS in Criminal Justice, Started working with Mercy’s Chosen Children

27yrs old: Married Vincent T. Howard (and therefore stopped living with Bethany)

28 yrs old: Got my Green Card (my hubby takes care of me!)

29 yrs old: Started working at Tandus

So, there it is. My eventful 20’s. I didn’t feel old until I compiled this list. Man, to put it into perspective, Sienna, Michael, Jonlyn and Kyrie are a decade behind me – I’m really old when you look at it that way. Seesh.

Anyhow. I enjoyed my 20’s. God has been good. I grew a lot and it hurt a lot but it was all worth it.

Last Saturday at Bethany's birthday dinner, she and I were reminiscing of our old times dancing to OutKast in our living room. I would say Outkast was an appropriate sound track to my 20’s…

“Ah ha, hush that fuss
Everybody move to the back of the bus
Do you wanna bump and slump with us
We the type of people make the club get crunk…”

…and yes, Bethany and I were “the type of people make the club get crunk”. *sigh*

Like I said, I grew a lot. I do not claim that I was “So fresh and so clean” during my 20’s. Not one bit. Probably the only thing that made sense in my early 20’s was the YKK’s on my zippers.

God was good and had many lessons in store for me. He taught me that I, like Ms. Jackson, can plan a pretty picnic but can’t predict the weather. God instilled in me that "you need to git up, git out and git something. Don't let the days of your life pass by…"

I have a hunch that my thirties will be known as "The Return of the Gangsta."