In the fall of 2006 I started college, fresh out of high school and ready to learn valuable tools for becoming an adult. In the spring of 2007, I was done with college, hated it, and was ready to work full time while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. By 23 I knew I wanted to be a writer and decided to go back to college, settled for online courses at the university of my choice, hated my life, lost Wi-Fi for a month because of hurricane Sandy and withdrew from the hell that was online courses.

Now at 28, ten years later, I'm back in college, paying off student loans for a Bachelors degree worth of nontransferable credits, still single, still living at home with my parents and still working full time with more bills than ever before. I don’t even have my own dog. Here's the kicker; Over the last year, I became best friends with a 19-year-old girl who is in the exact same spot in college as I am (without the whole no transferable credits issue).

At 19 she is mature, levelheaded, and hilarious. For all the wisdom I possess in my experienced mind, she possesses the mature state of mind to give me the best possible advice and opinion. In a way there is a big sister/little sister bond if my experiences can spare her from the messed up shit I have had to deal with I will shed it like a cat.

Aside from the awkward and unusual things, we frequently discuss how similar our lives are. At almost ten years in age difference, we are both exactly in the same boat. I began to wonder exactly how big IS the age range where being in college, living at home and figuring shit out is acceptable? I'm pushing 30. She is pushing 20, and while other 20 and 30-year-olds are in the same boat as us, some are living on their own in the city doing paid internships or planning their weddings.

My parents were married with two kids and careers by the time they were my age. And me? I'm starting my next semester in the next few weeks and planning a trip to comic con. To be fair, I was always a late bloomer. But that’s a story for another article.

It's not that I don't want to be married, with kids and a good job. Stability and security are two things I would love to have right now. Yet somehow the universe is not working in my favor. I know a lot of people would hide their faces or lie about being successful to seem more accomplished but my memory is terrible and I would probably forget whatever lie I fabricated.

“My husband owns a winery so, yeah, I’m just in college for fun and we’re adopting kids from the country with the most current crisis because, yeah, we are just that great of people and our lives are so great.”

Too many loopholes. And if I fill in the loop holes I’m just a psycho who deeply fabricated a fake marriage, life and adopted refugee children. I already put way too much thought into that example……..

In reality, I work full time at a job that has nothing to do with my major for school and starting over after the great college credits massacre that is my college experience. Somehow I don’t think that’s a story I would want to tell at parties, mostly because I don’t think anyone wants to hear it.

Truth is, the age range for being a “work in progress” has expanded from late teens to mid-twenties to late teens to early thirties. I think the one impressive thing about my fellow “progressers” is how young we look. We show very clearly that we are young in heart and mind while taking care of business and doing what we need to do in order to get caught up with the rest of our generation. So people tend to forgive us for being stuck in the shallow end of the success pool, and not label us as “underachievers” or “lazy”.

I don’t feel ashamed to still be figuring it out. I may not be married with a mortgage and babies but I’m enjoying my life in progress and making it as best I can. For all the things I could be ashamed of there’s a lot of things that I am actually proud of. The years I wasn’t in school, I worked full time (work experience!) I traveled all over the world (cultured!) and I experienced my share of heartbreak, success and failure (life experience!).

So maybe I don’t have a degree yet, but I can cook you some of the best Mexican, Cajun and Italian food you have ever had (shout out to the Cajun people of NOLA for treating a tourist like one of the family!). I don’t have a wedding band on my finger, but bet I get more compliments on my heirloom aqua ring I was bequeathed from my grandfather than you probably get on your diamond one. I’m not a mother but I fed my best friend ice chips as she gave birth to my first godson (I now have two godsons and my first goddaughter is on the way!) No, I’m not the poster child for success but I’m a great example of why you never let that stop you.

Bring it on 30.