This is 25

Almost 6 months into 25. Saw a photo of myself and realized life is just gonna keep on going.

My face has grown rounder, but not in a bad way

In a "my cheeks swell from smiling so much"way

In an "I'm growing into who I want to become" way

In a "look at all the new layers of life I've clothed myself in" way

I'm twenty five now. Sometimes my arms jiggle when I dance

I have more responsibilities, hobbies, and heartbreak experience

I've begun to notice gas prices

I lovingly swim through year-long summer, abundant with waves and sunsets and dirty dishes

I have an idea of who I will be by thirty

If life unfolds accordingly, no guarantee

I hold no doubts about my future, no existential dread

I hope she's proud of me, like I am of 20 year old Meg

She and I both the most confident layer of ourselves thus far

Both still the last one home on a night out

Both enjoy the occasional doodle

So I carry around a mini notebook now

I wonder what thirty year old me will have to say

About the new layers acquired and the career path we take

The similarities we share, how much deeper we go

More books read, canvases painted, places been, guitars strum

This passage through time doesn't change me, it feeds us

It never discredits, or sheds past layers

It's an eternally absorbing sponge, an unrepelling magnet

My face has gotten rounder. Look closely, whose hasn't?