Ode to Jordan's 20's

Today is the last day that Jordan can say he is "in his 20's". He turns the big 3-0 tomorrow. He has occasionally made the comment of how he feels old and how it's weird to think his 20's are almost done forever. However, he has also said something along the lines of this statement a few times: "Ya know, I think I made the most of my 20's." Looking back on the last decade of his life, I couldn't agree more. So, here is Jordan's 20's swan song.

I wasn't around much for the first part of his 20's, so all I write for them is pretty much heresay.

 Age 20

 

Jordan entered his 20's while he was on his mission in Germany. This is the only picture of him on facebook during his mission. I COULD go and scan a hard copy...but I won't. He was so tiny! His mission was tough, as Germans weren't the most welcoming of people when it came to American young men trying to teach them about religion. Jordan told me that he had a lot of dark, hard days that were really discouraging. But he also has told me countless fun and uplifting stories about how much he loved his mission. It seems for the most part, he really loved this time of life.

Age 21

 Jordan went back home to Tulsa shortly after he turned 21. When he got back from his mission, he spent the first 4-5 months at home working. Most of his friends were either away to college or still on their own missions, so he was pretty bored. He started going to the gym nearly daily for hours, worked on weight lifting and drank of ton of protein shakes/muscle milks. Hence, this is the year he went from scrawny lil' guy to the more muscly, bulky Jordan that I have always known.

Age 22

When he was 22, he took his first trip back to Germany. Guess he was a little homesick for his beloved Vaterland. 

 

This was also the age that I first met Jordan. Of course, at the time he was only my boyfriend's roommate that I was pretty sure didn't like me. This is our only picture of us "together" when Jordan was 22. As you can see, we weren't super close yet. Haha. There are three people between us. We have since closed the gap.

 Age 23

When Jordan was 23, he had  moved from being "my boyfriend's roommate" to "my ex-boyfriend's roommate", so we didn't really hang out much. I recall running into him on campus several times and we usually would chit chat for about 20 seconds and be on our way. So I have no picture of the two of us this year. Jordan spent this age mostly at BYU, but he also went BACK to Germany AGAIN, spent his summer with his homies in Oklahoma, and traveled to NYC with his buddies.

Age 24

What a fun Jordan year. This was the age where Jordan and I dated. Aw, 24 year old Jordan...so naive to the amount of craziness he had signed himself up for when he started pursuing me. This year was so fun. He was (and still is) quite the charmer and romantic. I'll always look back at this age of Jordan's life with happiness.

Age 25

What an eventful age! A few weeks after Jordan turned 25, he proposed to me. A few month later, we graduated from BYU, got hitched, and moved to Tulsa so I could go to grad school. 

Age 26

Jordan turned 26 while we were visiting Tucson. He had just interviewed for a PA school. When he was 26, he got into PA school at OU-Tulsa and began that educational journey.We also did a church history tour with my parents that year and went to Branson with his parents. Here's a picture of the first of many attempts I had at making him a birthday cake, as well as a picture of his first day in his PA school program, where he was given his white coat.

Age 27

Hmm...not the most eventful age for Jordan. He mainly spent it at school. We did go on a cruise for our anniversary that year, which was probably the highlight of age 27 for Jordan. 

Age 28

Another year full of school, only harder. Jordan spent the whole year doing clinical rotations. He also applied to some jobs and at the end of age 28, he got the offer from the doctor he works for now. As for fun, we did take a trip to Disneyland/Southern California that year, which was his very first time going to Disneyland EVER! He was about 23 years late!

Jordan also lost about 18+ lbs this year. We never took a before or after shot of it, so it's hard to show photos documenting it. It was basically because he was so busy with his rotations at the hospital, the only time he ate was at the hospital cafeteria when he had time. He was given a food card and so he always got grilled chicken or a salad. When he was at home, his mean wife never (and I mean NEVER) cooked, so he resorted to eating a lot of cereal for a few months.

Age 29

What. A. Year! I would say this final act of his 20's was definitely Jordan's most eventful one. He graduated PA school, we moved from Tulsa to OKC, he began his career, we went to Europe, He knocked up his wife, we bought a house, we traveled to St.George, St. Louis, Oregon, and New York. It's been a crazy year, and a crazy great one to end his decade.

 

So there's the proof that Jordan's 20's were pretty dang good. I feel so lucky to be able to have been a part of this chapter of his life, and I can't wait to see what his 30's bring. I suspect a lot of awesomeness.