As I sat down at the dinner table this Thanksgiving, small-talk questions quickly filled the room. And conversations started sounding like this: “How’s school going?”, “When does your second business location open?”, and “We actually just got married last month!”. Very different topics regarding very different stepping stones in life. The common factor, however, was the age. We were all in our twenty-somethings catching up on life lately. And life lately, sounds exactly like this: uncertain but exciting.  

Just last month I came back from what I like to call a Party-cation. Where I fly back to my hometown for special events such as birthdays or graduations. Except this time it was weddings. It was an intensive but fun month of non-stop celebration, full of emotions and laughter. As soon as I stepped foot out of the plane I was already at the first wedding. My friends and I couldn’t help but wonder how come we didn’t notice time flying by until it slapped us with reality as our first friend walked down the altar. I hate cliches, but seriously, why does 6 years suddenly feel like I blinked and we are now clinking champagne instead of sitting together in class?

On the other hand, I had to coordinate schedules with another friend because her parents needed to take and pick her up. Every family has their dynamic and hers was just like that. She’s going to be a doctor someday, and right now her career is her number one priority. But it used to be different years ago. We would breathe and live for pointe shoes and tutus, and despite burring those dreams in new “adult careers”, we always reminisce about life as two ballerinas.  

On a different day, I had coffee with high school friends, and we were looking at baby pictures. Baby pictures on an old friend’s profile. We officially now had our first mommy friend in the group. Meanwhile, I had an assignment to turn in before midnight, friend A had dropped school and friend B was sharing her plans to start over in Spain. 

Wedding number two came from a childhood friend. We talked days before over bubble tea, about how she felt leaving home. And we landed on the same conclusion, that the most bittersweet part about leaving your parent's house, is the fact that you can’t pack your siblings with you. This was her first time leaving the walls that saw her grow up, I resonated with her experience, despite the almost 9 home-movings I have gone through. Packing up and starting over always comes with a mix of emotions.  

My last week of party-cation came quickly, and I gathered with my 1st college-year friends, who had already graduated and entered the Advertising workforce. I listened carefully and paid attention to every detail wondering if when I finally graduated, life would sound similar to theirs.

Graduation is a word that I’ve been eager to use for a while now. But I’ve come to peace with this thought and decided to enjoy every step leading to that big word.  All our lives we are instructed what to do and pointed out where to go next. But it seems like as soon as you get to twenty, everyone reaches a labyrinth that you have to enter on your own. Some are quick to find a way out, others get lost in the way, or take the time to find it. In the end, we all eventually get out, we just have to figure it out in our way. I don’t know at what point of my labyrinth I’m at right now, or whose gotten out because we certainly have different destinations waiting at the exit. But I have learned to enjoy every single step on the way, and I have stopped to try and unravel the twenty-something dilemma, but instead accept it for what it is, something exciting because it’s a surprise.

Stay ConnecTED!

Fatima Salazar