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June 2003
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In less than two weeks I turn 27, but for some reason I can't stop thinking about the year when I was 24. I don't know what it was about that year, but it all just came together. My job, how I felt about myself, my friendships, my freedom - it was all buzzing in a perfect shape. My life was a ball in motion and for once it was moving in the right direction. As luck, or fate, would have it that was the same year that I started this Journey, so most of that time was captured moment by moment, high by high. Maybe that's why I think about it so much - I have the ability to dip back into it and live in those moments. I can live vicariously through myself. That was the summer that Mo and I moved in together so there are a lot more photos of that time than any other. We did so many fun things and we always had so much fun together, even if we were just watching Mtv, that I guess I felt it necessary to freeze frame it all on Kodak 3x5s.
Mo and Hannah - October 2000 We set up a baby pool in the backyard and invited boys over to grill out. We laid in the hammock, Montego between us, and talked about our plans for world domination. We ran around our upstairs trading clothes, shoes, bags - crafting the perfect outfits for said world domination. We went on vacation - we danced with Uruguayan soccer players and dangled our toes a hundred feet above the ocean, suspended by a parachute over the Gulf of Mexico.
Hannah & Mo - August 2000 We cheered on the Ohio State Buckeyes with block O temporary tattoos on our cheeks and we made a million plans to go to minor league baseball games and hockey games that never materialized. We went to *NSync concerts and drank in bars with members of the Dallas Burn. We threw house parties where people played caps and learned the dance moves to "Bye, Bye, Bye." We took our friends out for their birthdays and made them wear $2 glitter-covered sunglasses.
Hannah, Mo & Friends - August 2000 We just acted dumb and silly most of the time and while we sometimes bemoaned the messes we created, I wouldn't go back and change any of it. We laugh about it now and shake our heads and roll our eyes and think "How could we have done that?!" but doing all of That is what made us who we are, both as individual women, and as friends.
Mo and Hannah - Downtown Disney, 2000 I look at myself in these photos and I can't get over not only how young I looked but also how alive and hopeful I seemed. While I don't think that three years can really make all that much of a difference, even a quick study of my archives would show anyone that I've done and gone through a lot since I started putting it all down on electronic paper. But that's all been covered. I just wonder every so often if I'm really all that much better off than the girl who got to share a house in German Village, Ohio with her best friend. Mostly, yes. Twenty-four just happened to be my magic age so far, and while I'm lucky that I got to have such an amazing time in my early 20s I also realize that I have many magic years ahead of me. In fact, I might even have the very best year fairly far ahead of me, as my mom often tells me that her Best Age was 35. I don't know what it is with me right now. Maybe I'm just nervous that I'm coming up on another odd year and I'm fearful that 27 will turn out like 25. (Somehow though, I really doubt it.) Or maybe I'm just in shock that last weekend was my 5th college reunion or maybe it's just that I feel like I looked pretty good a few years ago and now I feel like one of Marge Simpson's sisters. Except even that might work out, as Mo and I have a back-up plan to turn into them. Except we'll both shave and only she'll smoke. So the daytime soap stars in 2020 better watch out. Join the notify.
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