Lucky 21?

I am slowly growing older...1, 2, 3, 10, 24...........meh...
There are a few numbers that become increasingly worrisome as the years, months, and sometimes even minutes pass.The most important is quite obviously age. 
Now, I'm no old crow...in fact, my boss calls me a "Spring Chicken", but I am certainly not getting any younger - any more "Springy".  I have celebrated my 21st birthday 4 times because for some reason that was my fond age.
At 21 I was living alone in southeast Calgary, working for Rogers Radio Group.  Rogers was fine but in such a huge city where I only knew 2 people, I spent most nights bored and lonely.  My sister lived a half hour drive away and my friend, Carlene...even farther.  What else happened at age 21 for me?  Oh, I got in that head on collision.  That was a treat.  Totalled my car, and with no collision coverage was sans vehicle for a while.  At age 21 I moved from Red Deer to Calgary and then back again for a guy I really shouldn't have moved around the block for let alone back to Red Deer.  Then I went from jobless to working at the worst station in the market at the time.  Yeah...21 wasn't so great.  But, I held on to 21.  I liked how it sounded, "I'm 21.".  It's so nonchalant.  It's like no big deal.  At 21 it doesn't matter if you haven't been to college...yet.  No one cares if you still drive a Sunfire at 21.  If you are single and promiscuous and irresponsible...its fine, at 21.  Really if you are anything more, you're put on a pedestal.  When I was 21 I had an education, a career, an apartment, and an automobile...so despite the crap year, I was a success!  The thing about aging is just like time, it never stops.  You can't stop time from ticking, and I am 24 not 21.  24 feels different.  It's only 3 years past, but what was more than enough then, seemed to fall short of satisfactory now.  Why?  I'm actually doing significantly better now...and so I should be!  More importantly, I should be proud of where I am, and where I can still go...beyond 21! 
In the game of Blackjack, 21 is the lucky number.  If you play your cards right, you take the cake.  Anything past 21?  A bust.  But wouldn't it be something if the game didn't end there?  If you could choose to stay in and let the pot grow?  If 21 wasn't the be all end all?  If you could carry on and win even bigger?  Perhaps that would take the meaning out of Blackjack, but for this girl...it puts the meaning into life.  If I keep the ambition and allow it to grow, there's really no way to go home a loser...no such thing as a bust. 
At 15 I wrote in a diary.  At 20 I began writing commercials.  At 24, I added a blog!  Soon I will write a book.  Eventually I'll have a hit, so I will write another, and another...each paperback more successful than the last.  I will live wherever I want, write whatever I feel, and nap whenever I please.  Non of that has anything to do with a number, and I'll be thanking God I got over 21.
And somewhere inside that book, on my first published pages it just might read: To Me, on my 40th birthday.
...and if I'm wearing my slippers, sipping my coffee, and making my living from anywhere in the world...the number 40 won't matter either.