This weekend I celebrated my 39th birthday and took some time to reflect upon my life to remember the moments (both good and bad) that brought me to this point. I realize a lot of wonderful things can be packed into 39 years…a lot of smiles and a fair share of tears, yet I do not always take the time to appreciate the past. It took each of those experiences to bring me to this moment of excitement and happiness. I sit here today happily married to an amazing woman with the closest friends I ever had, and preparing to pursue a lifetime of dreams this year.
With this being such a big year for us I decided to write up a summary of my life since college. To make it interesting I have used Twitter as a guide and gave myself a limit of no more that 140 characters per year. By creating this list I was forced not only to remember each year and what I did, but also how to identify the most important events from the year. This is the result:
- 1993 – graduated from Texas A&M University, took my dream job at Toys R Us following my dream to live the life of Tom Hanks in “Big”
- 1994 - moved to Dallas; learned retail sucks (curse you Tom Hanks); joined Software Spectrum; got engaged (engagement #1)
- 1995 - learned I was an idiot; broke off engagement; sad times ensue
- 1996 – determined through much experimentation that single life was much better than anticipated; promoted to Supervisor
- 1997 - met a woman; moved to Seattle; joined Microsoft (yes, the Evil Empire)
- 1998 - I forgot I am an idiot & got engaged (again…#2)
- 1999 - got married to wife #1 (using numbers should be a clue); honeymoon in Germany; left Microsoft, founded a company (cMeRun) & raised $15M; got my best friend (my dog Max)
- 2000 - moved to Boston; took company public; found out it snows a lot here
- 2001 - closed company; investors in jail (great story available for years to come); moved to Washington DC area
- 2002 - joined a company as CEO; moved to East Philadelphia (aka New Jersey)
- 2003 – sold company; got divorced; met amazing woman (Betsy); still living in East Philly (yes, it is still NJ)
- 2004 - got married (yes, again); honeymoon in Paris; moved to Boston (yes, again)
- 2005 - loving New England; became a Red Sox fan; went to Germany & UK
- 2006 - moved to Seattle; joined F5; went to Barcelona for vacation
- 2007 - enjoying wine and living in the city of Seattle; spent the holidays in San Francisco
- 2008 - launched Married with Luggage; joined Microsoft (again); vacation in Hawaii; started learning Spanish; traveled to Singapore and Indonesia
- 2009 - went to NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii; started a WordPress development company (MWL Development); promoted to Director at Microsoft
- 2010 - sold our home and everything we own; sky-dived for the 1st time; counting down to trip around the world on Oct 1st…
Honestly, I could not imagine being happier with the path my life has taken and the peaks and valleys I have gone through to reach this moment. I cannot wait to see what my 40’s have to offer.
Take a few minutes to create your own Twitter life summary. Remember the good, and not so good, times. Have fun with the process as you reflect on what a wonderful ride it has been to reach this moment. Share it with others to let them get to know it, or share it here in the comments. Let me know your thoughts on your process.
About Warren
This is inspiring, as always! I can’t wait to try to summarize my life in the same 140 character style - brilliant idea!
Please send over to me when you are done and I would love to read it. I am sure there is a ton I could learn from reading a summary about you.
I love this - what a quick easy way to get a ton of background! A few surprises in there too!
Surprises? I love surprises. This may be a fun exercise to do with others to see what else you can find out. It also helps find out what others see as important in their lives.
Great summary, Warren. I really love when people embrace their age and celebrate the past. Here’s to at least 39 more!
Thank you Shannon. Every year brings new experiences and excitement so the only choice we have is to celebrate! Enjoy the time we have.
Great post- thanks for the inspiration.
I did the exercise (for the years since graduating from college) and it only took about 15 minutes. What was great about it is that it cut through the clutter. There was only room to mention the “majors”- a big move, a job or career switch, meeting the love of your life, traveling, and anything big and personally meaningful to you (for me, those were publishing fiction and doing the AIDS bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles).
It puts things in perspective, shows you what you care about, and how you got from there to here.
Thanks!
I am delighted it inspired you. What I find fun is coming back to this list over time and making updates as my memories become more clear or my feelings change around what is important about me. I will be curious how I may update mine on my 40th next year after being on the road for 8 months. Will be interesting.
Love to read about your past as well if you like to share.
Hi Warren
Happy 39th birthday! Loved the photos of Paris, only been there once but would love to go again as i didn’t have the ideal companion on that trip- enough said about that! I’m going to say something that I hope comes out right! Looking at those photos, you both looked like a young professional couple, well dressed, beautifully groomed etc, now you look like people who have moved on and perhaps value what is more important in life, experiences, each other, being together and doing what matters to you. I mean that very much in a positive way, and that I admire you both for that, so I hope it comes across that way!
All the best
Judy
Hi Judy,
Your comments are extremely touching and certainly came out perfectly. In going through our old photos this is exactly what Betsy and talk about in regards to the transformation over the last 10 years. We both feel like different people than we were in 2000, and since we got together in 2003 we have paved a completely new path for ourselves. It is wonderful that you can pick that up just from the photos, as it is something we live with each and everyday.
I truly loved Paris, but know that I am not the person that was there in April 2004. Not that I regret who I was, simply appreciating the experiences that have let me to this moment.
Thank you for making my day!