approaching 27...........gulp

i just got off the phone with a good friend of mine, we were talking about when we met, back when i was just barely 18. thinking back on it, i remember it like it was yesterday. i was young, naive and not half the woman i am today. i was lost, confused, scared, angry, sad, and did i mention lost? that was almost 9 years ago. and i have since grown and changed in ways i never thought i could at that age. when i was 18, i thought i knew everything about life.....but boy did life prove me wrong. i learned the lessons the hard way. i learned about love and loss, all the hard way. i faced setback after setback and obstacle after obstacle, and cried my heart out over every single one as if the world was ending. i thought for sure life would get the best of me, that i was not cut out for it, that i would eventually be pushed to my limit and snap. but somehow, through it all, i learned and i grew and i overcame and i survived and came out of it all the woman i am today. i am strong, a thousand times more strong than my 18 year old self. confident, in ways far more important than my 18 year old self was. i am more optimistic now then maybe i should be. i dont know who to thank for that, but wherever or whomever i learned the power of optimism, i am eternally grateful.
i will be turning 27 in little over a week from now, and ill be honest, im still a little lost. but in the best way possible. i have the world at my fingertips, and nothing but love in my heart. i am not bitter, angry or sad. i do not hate, regret, or envy. i am honest, hopeful, and happy. and 27 doesnt seem like the worst thing in the world when i think about how far ive come and how much i have learned.