Matt turns 33 today!

I'm celebrating my 33rd birthday in Costa Rica! How did I do that? That sure wasn't where I thought I'd be at 33. When I was a kid, growing up in West Virginia, I was under the impression I'd be there my whole life. I had goals and aspirations of traveling and seeing the world, but I never thought I'd actually do it. Over the years I'd spent birthdays in places like, Nashville, Anaheim and Myrtle Beach. I traveled to Canada once with my family, but we only spent a couple hours there. My sister, Amber, traveled abroad to Paris once for school. I remember being super envious of her, I still am. I remember watching movies where people backpack to places like Alaska and Mexico. I thought, "That's something I'd like to do", but again, I never did. When my Dad said his job was relocating him to Kansas City, even then I didn't want to go. I'd only ever traveled outside of West Virginia, I'd never actually moved somewhere else, I didn't want to go. Eventually I gained the courage to go after I realized I missed my family. My job at Sherwin Williams allowed me to transition to another location in Kansas City near where my family was, so that made the move easier. After about 5 years or so, living with them, I met someone who lived not too far away in Topeka, Kansas. You all probably know the rest of that story, so I won't go into those details, but meeting her was how I ended up here. From West Virginia to Kansas City, Missouri, to Topeka, Kansas, to Costa Rica. Sometimes I wish people were handed road maps in their youth of where they'll end up if they do certain things. I sure would have liked one of those. I was a weird band kid in High School, playing the drums and drawing was all I knew. I'd like to revisit this post in 20 years and see what's changed. The future is unpredictable, but sometimes I wish I could predict it.