“Did the world change when you turn 27?”  I asked my best friend when her birthday arrived last week.

“Not yet!” she said.

25 meant I could run for the House (and it spurred me to start this blog!).
At 26, I knew that it would be a little cheaper to rent a car.
But what’s 27 all about?

Here’s how my 27th year is going to be different:

• The Price is Right will have male models.  It’s groundbreaking for the show, which I’ve loved since I spent all my childhood sick days watching it, and I can’t wait to see if the boys can point at watches, jetskis, and jacuzzis as well as the ladies.  I’ll have to find out the next time I hurt my back and have to stay on the couch all day.
• I will no longer have a “dumb phone” – I’m getting an iPhone later this month and will no longer need other people to tell me when the next bus is coming or how late the library is open.
• I will stop burning my mouth on food that is too hot to eat.  Laugh if you want, but I have a terrible tendency to rush into things, including food, with an intensity that leaves me burnt… literally.  I would like to dedicate 27 to slowing down a bit.  Maybe then I can finally learn how to drink a hot chocolate without my tongue going numb after the first sip.
• I will give back to my community.  I’ve been in Somerville for more than two years – now that I finally vote here, it’s time to up my game and contribute to my neighborhood.  First stop: canvassing for Elizabeth Warren this weekend.  Anyone want to join?
• I will write even more letters.  Someone has to keep the post office in business!
• I will finish my first half marathon.  Not sure when or for whom, but watch this space because it’s definitely going to happen.
• I will leave the country.  (And then come back.)  I had to use my passport to transfer my driver’s license from NH to MA, and it made me realize that it’s been far too long since I went abroad.  Even if it’s just to Canada, I am getting outta here while I’m still young, just so I don’t get stuck in one place too long.
• I will make each day count.  Seriously.  I know that I won’t be twenty-seven – or twenty-anything – forever, and I want to live it up.  If that means board games, cook-offs, singing kareoke until I’m hoarse, working late on causes that matter, riding buses up and down the Eastern seaboard to see my best friends, waiting in line at crowded bars, or some combination of all of those – I plan to make this year count.  You only get to be 27 once – I plan to make it a life-changing year so I have something to say when people ask “What exactly is being 27 all about?”