In Iowa: Celebrating milestone

When you read this, I'll be 1,500 miles away from Iowa, celebrating the wedding of one of my closest friends.

We've been friends for a long time, since high school. For her wedding, a small group is gathering, holding our own high school and college reunion of sorts.

We've supported each other through great times and horrible ones. We've celebrated each others' accomplishments and held each other during our tragedies. We've danced until the morning at college parties, and now we're dancing at each other's weddings.

Those women helped me figure out who I would be as an adult. They stuck with me in the awkward years of not knowing and sometimes messing up.

So I can't wait to help one of them mark this milestone.

Milestones used to freak me out. Even as I celebrated with friends getting married or having babies, they made me worry about what I didn't have yet.

This year I turned 30 - a milestone I'd been dreading. But I marked the occasion in a house I'd recently bought, surrounded by friends and co-workers, people I met at a job I truly enjoy.

And it turned out I felt just as alive and youthful in the weeks after turning 30 as I had in the weeks before. Shocking, I know. Thanks for freaking me out, ridiculous pop culture norms.

Suddenly, milestones don't seem so scary.

Am I where I thought I would be at 30, if you had asked me when I was graduating college with those women I still count as friends? Are any of us where we thought we would be?

I know I'm not. I envisioned a life for myself as a foreign correspondent, traveling the globe, writing about important, weighty topics.

I'm not doing that. Lately, it seems like I mostly write about farmers markets.

But I'm happy. I spent last weekend weeding the strawberry patch in my garden and enjoying good company and conversation over beers with a friend.

And honestly, I love writing about farmers markets. Here in Cedar Rapids, I may cover simple things instead of the big topics I once envisioned, but it is the simple things that often define how we enjoy our lives.

They're the things I look forward to each day.

A very smart friend recently remarked that maybe there is no perfect life. There's just the life we're living. No matter what choices we make, after all, we'll always wonder, 'What if?”

There always will be things we like about where we are and what we're doing, and things we wish were different.

Last weekend, my social media feeds were filled with photos of graduations. Milestones. To all the graduates, whether from high school, college or graduate school: congratulations.

I'm sure a lot of commencement speeches were given, filled with platitudes about following your dreams. And you should.

But here's my advice - while you're dreaming, don't be afraid also to look around and love whatever life you find yourself living.

Now, excuse me, I have some celebratory dancing to do.