There are about two hours left of my 30s, and while my husband has been gleefully rubbing it in all day long, I wasn’t thinking much about it until I had some alone time in the car tonight (running errands and dropping off/picking up kids, natch). And mostly I was thinking about what I will not miss about my 30s.

So here are a few, in no particular order:

  • Heart attacks. Obvs.
  • Pants suits, necessitated by a fancy-title promotion at 30 and needing to look the part.
  • Speaking of pants suits: needing to prove anything in general. I know what I’m good at and what I can offer and the freedom from having to prove it is actually exhilarating. #leanin
  • Cleaning my house. Working means I have a cleaning person again, without an iota of guilt.
  • Infertility, miscarriages, dashed hopes, and “should we or shouldn’t we have another baby” procreation stress in general.
  • Cheap makeup. Though I cost ever more to maintain, nice products are a happy little luxury.
  • DIY. Last summer we had our fence replaced and didn’t do anything except make a call. After years of DIYing our home and yard, this was a revelation.

I also spent two hours looking through old pictures tonight and what I saw were all the things I would miss, but thankfully don’t have to, because they are my experiences, my memories, my life. And when I turn 40 in a precious few minutes, I take all that with me to greet whatever comes next.

Here is a somewhat randomly selected, unedited (really!) set of photos from my 30s.

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