Danielle in Baton Rouge

I spent part of my birthday week this week with two best friends in New York I turn 30 tomorrow so I figured it’s a good time to pause and reflect on life. 30 is considered an important age milestone, the end of youth in some respects.  I think this photo illustrates well just how grown up I am at *almost*  30 Cultural expectations surrounding 30 are that someone will have finished education, settled down and started a family, found a good stride in a career, bought a house, etc. I haven’t really done any of these things except education – and if you know me, you know that was finished December 2016, 6.5 years after most of my peers exited college. I stayed in graduate school for my MA and PhD – which is considered an acceptable alternate path to starting a family and career right away, as long as it is followed by getting a decent paying job in the field you studied (and then starting a family and buying a house).  Graduation day in December 2016 But the