Twenty-Two

So this is 22. Sitting in my kitchen in yesterday’s jeans, holding my two-month-old daughter, staring at a cake that looks like it survived a small earthquake. Marcus tried so hard with that cake, you guys. He watched three YouTube videos and still somehow made it lean to the left like the Tower of Pisa. I love him for it.

Twenty-Two

A year ago I was a college student worried about passing pharmacology and whether that cute guy from the bar would text me back. Now I’m an RN, engaged to that cute guy, and responsible for keeping a tiny human alive. The whiplash is real, but honestly? I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

We kept it simple tonight – just the three of us, takeout Chinese food, and Marcus’s architectural disaster of a birthday cake. Sophie slept through most of it, which feels like the perfect metaphor for this whole year. Everything changed around me while I was just trying to figure out how to be a person, and somehow it all worked out better than any plan I could have made.

Twenty-two feels different than I expected. Quieter maybe, but in the best way. Like I finally know who I’m becoming.