Hello There, 27.

It seems like only a few months ago that I was blogging about what I had learned during the year preceding my 26th birthday.

I had just painfully gulped the recommended dosage of adulthood; I was trying to balance disappointment and optimism; marriage and individual identity; a full-time job and enough freedom to maintain sanity. It was a party, let me tell ya.

But here I sit at the brink of 27.

I guess this is how people end up getting old. One second you’re at your desk, the next you’re in a rocking chair at Cracker Barrel bemoaning current political conditions.

So, in similar fashion, let’s cover a few things I’ve learned this year:

- Buy something you feel like you’re not cool enough to pull off. While I started out walking like a newborn giraffe, by event time, I was a gazelle in my tall, pink wedges. Ok, more like grown-up giraffe—but progress is progress.

- Do things outside of work with fellow coworkers. Even if it’s trading in your business pants for sweatpants and a set of dumbbells. Office talk suddenly shifts from number-crunching to a comparison of body parts you can no longer feel.

- Invest in a $1 plastic back massager from Dollar Tree. Husbands will want a backrub until the end of time. This enables you to sleepily bang it across their shoulders without looking.

- Babysit for couples whenever you can. I call it my mental health ministry. It’s not Africa, but it can be a jungle out there.

- Remember a detail about a passing conversation with someone and follow up another day with a question. I just had a lady ask me how my brother’s wedding was; I didn’t expect her to remember it, but let’s face it—it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

- Buy wedgie-free underwear. Glorious. Hope you like solid colors and stripes, though.

- You’re only as important as you think you are. If I didn’t clearly express myself in this email, the message would be lost. My communication skills are vital for the distribution of information within this company. Atta, girl.

- Embrace the “benefit of the doubt.” When you start to picture other people swarmed in the madness you find yourself in, your leniency and grace is extended—and understanding and continued friendship results.

- Watch dramatic teenage dramas. It makes being an adult sound like a better idea.

- Bake when you’re mad. Egg cracking is therapeutic and your husband doesn’t mind the end result.

- Cars mean a lot more when you work to pay for one. And it’s nice being able to open the car prior to running out in the rain.

- Become friends with people of all ages. That’s the fun thing about your late 20s. You can hang out with the youth group and the Golden Girls all in one night. But try not to get arrested.

- Sometimes “who you are” changes—and that’s OK. Or at least that’s what I tell myself now that I spoon with a dog every night and toss around the idea of being a stay-at-home mom someday.

I know these life lessons aren’t earth shattering in nature. I’m sure I could have pulled some more serious ones out if I had taken the time to do so.

But to me, life lessons sneak up on you just like another year of life. They don’t come in with a thunderous herd or trumpet sound; but they change you all the same.

Happy Birthday, kid.