Talk Thirty to Me!

Goood morning!

Isn't it weird that everybody seems old until you get there?


When I was in high school, the seniors looked so much older than us. I mean, like full-grown adults with makeup and everything. But then when it was my turn to be a senior, I had a few females in my class who wore makeup, but none of them looked as old as the seniors when we were just freshmen.


I could have never imagined 30. I knew it would be my golden birthday, but it still felt years away, almost a notion. I looked forward to 16 because I got my driver's license. 18 I was legal. 21 was for alcohol. But I had nothing for 30. 30-somethings seemed to have it all together. They had careers. They were married and had children. Back in the day, 30-somethings were old! Women were having high-risk pregnancies.


Now, here I am,  30-years-old. No husband and no children. Did I fail? Had I gotten something wrong? I sure don't have everything figure out! I feel like I look younger than my age and I certainly don't feel ancient!


It's weird!



April 30, 1990 was the day I was born via C-Section because I was breech and turned on my side. (Ironically setting the tone for the next 30 years of my life; nothing comes easy with me!) Which means that last week,  April 30, 2020, would be known as my golden birthday; 30 on the 30th and it was a Thursday! How divine, but due to the global pandemic my plans of travel and partying came to a screeching halt.


Now, I tried to make plans B and C, but after a while I just became more and more depressed and uninterested. And the more anybody talked about doing something with me, the angrier I became. Just. Leave. It. Alone.



I just didn't want April 30th to feel like another Thursday. I didn't want it to be another day for anybody because it wasn't for me. I got the shout outs... I received some gifts from near and far away, but it still felt like another day... another birthday and it just wasn't fair!


I think the biggest thing for me is feeling forgotten. My friends and family know that birthdays are a big deal for me and I want to feel extra special for MY day, and it wasn't just another birthday; #GoldenBryge was supposed to be a huge deal. Nothing hurts my feelings more than to hear, "Happy Belated Birthday" from somebody who loves me. I'd rather you just not tell me at all. I accept them though because things happen, but with all this technology, how could you forget about me?




Considering the circumstances, my birthday was fantastic! Just to be alive is something to rejoice about if you ask me! 30 whole years, that's just mind-blowing to me. Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday it's 2004 and I am a little 96lbs freshman . Or maybe I'm still the little 4-year-old girl in Mrs. Taylor's class in Head Start Circa 1994. Or take me back to the day I graduated from college in 2013. I think that was probably thee proudest moment of my mother's life. I don't think she's ever been proud of anything I've done, but she told me that day. How about when I graduated from Basic Training in 2013?? That was indeed a moment! (I think that that was probably my proudest moment next to buying my home!)


If you would have told 6th grade me that I would change my mind from wanting to become an orthodontist to a talk show host because I would fall hard for Oprah Winfrey in high school, I wouldn't believe you! If you would have told me that I would accept Jesus Christ as my Lord as Savior on Sept 5, 1999, I wouldn't believe you. If you would have told me that in college I would pay somebody with a pack of cigarettes to do a tattoo on me, I probably would have cussed the clothes off your back! (Yeah... what a time!) And if you would have told me that at the tender age of 30, I would have all of this and so much more to look back on, I wouldn't have believed you either.


Life for me ain't been no crystal stair, though!


I've fallen down 9 times, but I got up 10. I've had to travel to many dark corners of my life alone because of the hurt, shame, and guilt. I had to cry alone and fight off more demons than I care to reveal. I've questioned God. I've questioned myself. And I've questioned the loyalty and the love of others and struggled with insecurities along the way.



But I'm still climbin'. (Y'all know that poem, "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes!)


One thing that I do know to be true is that God CAN dream a bigger dream for you than you can dream for yourself. I'm a witness!




Just look at God!



I'm healthy.  I can run. I can dip it low and leave it there because these knees are bad! I still have my job. My home is blessed. My life is a beautiful dream unfolding everyday I wake up. I don't know what I expected to see back in 1990, but to fast forward to 2020, I thank God for HIS plans for my life. I just need to open up more to His will for my life.  I just can't wait to see what else God has in store for me because the last 30 years have been nothing short of amazing!




I'll leave y'all with a quote from Misty Copeland just in case you forget that there's a savage inside of you!


,"You can start late, look different, be uncertain, and still succeed."



I will be a boss.


I will be a leader.


And I will pull up in my two-seater because 30 is thee new 30!






So, without further adieu...


… it IS a pleasure to meet you!