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Turning 30 is the point at which people are expected to "figure it all out." And indeed, many of those who say goodbye to their 20s begin a new chapter in their lives by getting engaged, pregnant, or tired of everyone around them.

The big 3-0 is often built up to be the biggest celebration after our "coming of age" 18ths. A time to get ambitious. A time to achieve. But while important career changes, 401(k)s, and the inability to party past midnight (not to mention the burning matter of "settling down") might sound anxiety-inducing, in reality, our 30s aren't something to be afraid of. They're when things start to get good.

But to get the full picture of what happens during this decade, let's look at the Instagram account Thirty AF. This millennial heaven shares funny memes, relatable tweets, and all kinds of content that perfectly capture the highs and lows during this period. So continue scrolling and check out some of its most popular posts!

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Ryan Deschanel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He used "You are a nerd" as an excuse to break up with her? Wow... He clearly had self-worth issues, assuming it meant he was not good enough for her.

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The account is run by two pals, Chloe Jankowitz, 35, and Peter West, 34. "We've been good friends since day one of our freshmen year at Emerson College in Boston, MA," the guys told Bored Panda. "Since graduating in 2009, we've always lived far apart, in different states or sometimes in different countries."

"We have a very similar sense of humor and a way we've kept in touch is through sharing memes and videos with each other. In 2018, we decided to start Thirty AF as a fun way to share these jokes with a wider group of friends. We never really thought it would ever grow into anything more than a fun hobby, but eventually, it really started picking up and we decided to put more of our focus into figuring out what our brand was and finding creative new ways to engage our quickly growing following through reposted content and regular features that we created ourselves. We both have backgrounds in marketing and media, and found that our combined skills helped us create something that stood out from other meme accounts and build a fun and engaged community of 30 somethings."

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Veronica Sjöberg
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I never answer if I don't know who's calling. The decent ones send a text after saying who they are and/or what it is about. I wish all people could do that instead of keep calling several times.

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At the moment, Chloe and Peter have a whopping 1.6-million following and this huge fan army also has a few notable names, like singer Demi Lovato and actor Channing Tatum.

"When life changed dramatically for everyone in March 2020 and we all found ourselves spending a lot more time at home and a lot more time with our phones, we put even more energy into building Thirty AF. We grew by over 1 million followers in a single year, and it is now a full-time job for both of us," the duo said.

The project has also expanded to TikTok and recently got its first spinoff — a food account, called Hungry AF. "We run an online shop and release a yearly Nostalgia Box that is a fun mix of products from nostalgic brands like Dunkaroos and the Lisa Frank nail wraps from Orly, and also fun products featuring nostalgic references. Our 2021 box sold out in under 24 hours! We're also working on some very exciting things for 2022 including a touring pop-up event and a TV game show - we can't share a lot of info on that yet, but it is insanely exciting and something we never thought would happen!"

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Sonja
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I shouldn' have laughed..but I did.. I feel your pain..

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Widdershins66
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

🤣🤣🤣 I'm putting on my footwear before attempting to put on my legings, twice!

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Naturally, all of this effort demands a lot of time and energy. "The way we manage Thirty AF has changed a lot over the years. Much of the content that we post is submitted by creators."

"We love meeting creators and comedians who are new to Instagram and helping drive traffic to their pages; we have networked with a ton of incredibly talented creators over the years and share their content a lot. We keep a close eye on meme trends and will often share roundups of the funniest memes and tweets related to trending topics (the latest being the 'According to the CDC' meme trend). We're also part of a lot of online groups, particularly for millennials and different nostalgia groups, and a lot of content comes from there. We also create a lot of original content mostly for our stories and TikTok," Chloe and Peter explained.

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For the stories, the account has a daily feature. "Followers apply to be featured as our daily single looking for love. We share their photo and info about them and encourage other followers to DM them. This has been going on for almost two years and a few engagements have come from it so far!"

There's also the semi-regular Small Business Saturday feature where Chloe and Peter share the businesses they love, as well as holiday gift guides. "We have a lot of friends who are business owners and have so much respect for millennials who have decided to reject the corporate hustle and create their own businesses, so helping support people like that, especially businesses run by women and BIPOC is super important to us."

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Burs
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

While also teaching them that it is fine to not having children. Which is amazing. Modern childfree people suffer a lot of hate but we at least have more options. But Previous generations were brainwashed to think that they needed to have kids.

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"We also do regular story poll features like our Bop or Flop feature where followers decide if a song is a bop or a flop. When songs score over 65% bop, they are added to our Bop or Flop playlist on Spotify that has almost 40k followers," the two of them added.

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Their latest story feature is Now That's What I Call Music brackets where followers rank albums from one of the Now That's What I Call Music. This gig takes Chloe and Peter an entire week and at the end of it, they announce what is the biggest bop. "People (including the two of us!) get so into it. We are starting our NOW 7 bracket next week, we're both rooting for Survivor by Destiny's Child to be the winner... But we'll see. Britney and NSYNC do seem to win a lot! We're going to bracket Now 1-10 and then do an all-stars round where the winning tracks face off against each other. It's really fun!"

Thirty AF's content touches on a lot of different themes but some of the most recurring ones are "self-deprecating humor that millennials relate to, commentary on issues facing millennials such as salaries ... not having the ability to own a home, some tongue in cheek 'okay boomer' humor (love you mom and dad!), finding relatable humor in issues like anxiety and depression, etc."

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But the biggest hits are nostalgic posts for the 90s and early 2000s. "The past few years have been really weird and stressful for everyone, and looking back on the comfort of these things that we all bonded over as kids has provided a lot of comfort and connection during these turbulent times," Chloe and Peter said.

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Michele Viney
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was trying to remember the name of a song recently. All I knew for definite was that "Mountain" and "Sea" were in the lyrics. It took a bit of searching (yes on Google) to find it. FYI it was "Truly, Madly, Deeply" by Savage Garden.

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"We really do try to read every message we get and reply when we can, and one of my favorite types of messages is a 'PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one who remembers [insert obscure TV/music/product/game reference from the 90s]' type of message and this always gives us ideas for posts and features. So much of the 90s feels like a bizarre fever dream, and being able to connect with other people in an 'OMG I remember that too!' moment is such a fun and, not to sound cheesy, wholesome way to connect," the team behind Thirty AF added.

"There is so much that is driving everyone apart right now and put effort into focusing on our differences, nostalgia is something that can, for a minute at least, make us focus on the things that brought us together as kids. And that has been a main and growing theme of Thirty AF and something we're excited to keep sharing!"

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Brendan Roberts
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wait what? Women can be happy and feel fulfilled by having a successful career?

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Walking On Sunshine
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah why don't we have good hackers that go in and erase peoples mortgages and student loans like undercover brother?

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Nadia Monteira
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You mean we American want healthcare. Europe has healthcare (of course dental could be improved). We would like people to not live on the street. Family with kids to be able to feed them and pay school meals and also less violence

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Ryan Deschanel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Boomers took everything, ruined everything, then blamed everyone else.

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Veronica Sjöberg
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mom always said "be quiet until they go away" if someone showed up without notice. I do the same with my kids, lol. Even if it's someone I know I want to be prepared to socialize. And if it's someone I don't know its creepy. It makes sense to not just open your door to anyone when it's so easy to call/text/email beforehand.

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Ola Pe
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’d love to have such meeting. The jobs don’t need to be shitty

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Brendan Roberts
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The older I get, the more I rely on professionals to do anything and everything for me. No more hanging my own photo frames.

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Sabrina Bowen
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually, this is sorta genius. I could have saved myself and my realtor a lot of time had I known one house we wanted to see had 6ft ceilings, another had shelf paper glued to the "newly finished floors," and a third had a basement floor on an angle making most of it unusable despite being listed as "finished" and "spacious."

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GoddessOdd
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It gets even more fun with each passing year. At this point, I am thinking of rounding my birth date up to a year that ends in zero to make the math easier. It will make me a lot older, but then people will say "but doesn't she look GREAT for her age" instead of "she's really let herself go"

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Huddo's sister
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My birthday is a year that ends in zero and it makes things so easy! Then I work out my brother's age by mine -2 and so on!

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Kristen Kidd
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This had been me since I turned either 30 or 31, which could have been three to six years ago now

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Dark Side
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have to ask my kids all the time, "How old am I?" The answer is never what I want it to be.

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Doge
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fonk me, I had this conversation last week with the exact same numbers! Turns out I'm turning 36.

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M Whee
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Alexa. How old is a person born in... Yes, I have asked this.

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Daura Beard
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah! So I just skipped to forty and I figure I will acknowledge only decade ages from now on.

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JelliTate
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And your 40’s. I just ask my husband, “how old are we now “?

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kathryn stretton
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Started giving my year of birth years ago. You work it out. I will say July so I can watch the cogs rolling if they can be bothered, which they can't. Me neither.

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D K
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My last birthday put me in my final year of my 30’s so I’m holding onto 39 for dear life until September 😩

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The Shark
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Agreed... More and more I find myself doing the math to calculate my own age... REPEATEDLY throughout a year

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Jazmine Conway
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same, like I have to stop and think just to remember how old I am when asked.

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Aidan Pite
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One of the reasons I love being born in a year ending in 0. As long as I can remember what year it is I'm good.

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Melinda Nicole
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

After 21 bdays aren't important. After 30 I definitely would have to think of how old I was.

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Doesn’t Care
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I see your kindergarten teacher stopped the whole counting thing at 30

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Nikki B
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I went 2 years not knowing for sure everyone got either 32 or 33 one day my lovely bf looked at me and said honey you’ll be 35. Ohhh my bad lol

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Jessica Julian
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I literally thought I was year older than so was, for a year, until my next birthday, and my mom corrected me. I'm actually a pretty smart person...it just never occurred to me to double check I was right. 😂

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Andrea Careless
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh little one, and your cute tale of memory glitches, you have no idea what the future holds.

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AngelWingsYT
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Someone asked a month ago my age n i legit blanked if is was 26 or 27

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Phill Healey
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wait till your 40's. I can't remember if I'm 47 or 29 with a really bad back.

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Irishwoman abroad
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just stick to 29 for as long as you can get away with it. Then, for the next 10 years, 39, and so on. Works a treat until you go to the doctor's! 😁🤦‍♀️

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Miki G
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought I'd be 43 thus past Dec. Turns out I'm only 42.🤷🏽‍♀️

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Laura Price
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I spent a year telling people I was 48..On my bday I realized I was turning 48 It was like a free year.

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Rebecca Olds
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same, couldn't remember right before my birthday. Thought i was 32, did the math turns out i was 33 bout to be 34. Where did that year go?!

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Kelly Jo Andrews
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At age 37 start saying 40 and you can get away with it for at least 5 yrs, by then everyone will be in the habbit of saying you are 40 and it may stick until 50.

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Vonnie
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lol I have been saying I'm a year older then I am every year since I've turned 30 I'm 36 now

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Vonnie
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lol I still can't remember how old I am 36 or 37. I do this ever year.

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Monaca Morgan
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Im like that now.. And my bday is fri.. But idk if im 41 or 42

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Animalsrgreat
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was 46 for two year. Crushing disappointment when my husband gave me a reality check.

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Lynn H
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have to remind my husband how old he is. Makes me giggle

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Sofie
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's a good thing my husband knows what age we are, otherwise I always get it wrong - sometimes by more than 10 years in either direction :-/

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Jaaawn
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Omg this happens to me. Thought I was turning the age I already am. I was just like s**t, I've lost a year.

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Ramona Rhein
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I usually have to think back to the year I was born. Then I remember.

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Mewton’s Third Paw
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me too and I think it’s dope. I’m more adult and more secure than ever and my hair and makeup look better than ever and there’s always Botox and whatever. I get carded everywhere and assumed to be in my 20s by everyone but I don’t actually have to live like I’m in my 20’s. Best of all worlds.

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Darcy Marie
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Idk if it's being in my 30s or the pandemic canceling two...or three? Unsure. Anyway it canceled a number of my birthdays but I 100% don't know how old I am unless I do math.

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Charles Bosse
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"What year was I born in? Has my birthday passed yet? Oh, carp, am I about to turn 40?!?"

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Alicia Miller
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I consistently think I'm 2 years younger than I actually am and as soon as I realize my error, I'm like "damn, that happened again." Smh

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Nicola Roberts
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ha! Just wait until you try and figure out when you bought the fridge, washing machine etc.

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Sabrina Bowen
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

YES. I started applying for jobs in 2021 and realized I am a year older than I thought I was.

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Brendan Roberts
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'd trust my kid to do the booby traps, but there's no way he'd buy groceries or do the laundry.

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Veronica Sjöberg
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But that's the only perks you have. Eating what you want. Or drink soda or eat candy on weekdays (but in secret if you have kids).

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Jo Johannsen
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can you imagine the decompression alarm just went off, you're putting on your spacesuit, get to the helmet and are trying to stuff your three-foot-long tress up under your helmet before your oxygen runs out....

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