Thirty. I feel like it was really not that long ago when I was looking ahead to figure out what year I would turn eighteen... and now, somehow, I have arrived at 30.
Overall, I am doing okay with it. It isn't some major crisis, it is just strange. But, as I have shared with a few others, my life matches a thirty year old. I have two kids, been married for almost eight years, have taught for six years (even if I am not teaching at the moment), and my life, on paper, sounds like that of a thirty year old.
The twenties, to me, evokes an image of someone just leaving high school behind, starting a career, starting a marriage, and maybe starting a family. It is a time of life full of the main images of coming into adulthood.
Thirties are the solid adult time, where you have life figured out (in theory). The time with parents is long behind you, and nothing is in the sparkling new phase (except your own kids), but that's okay. There is a kind of beauty in having a pattern and a rhythm of life. Honestly, I feel like most of my life has been spent somewhat waiting for this time...it is just strange to be here, living it.
I thought a nice tribute to my farewell to my twenties would be to look back at my blog posts about my birthdays and reflect on any interesting parts of what I wrote years ago.
So, my blog started back in 2009, and consequently, the first birthday post is about twenty five. I don't have much to say about life in this post, but just share about the event, which was at Napa Rose's chef's table. Best quote: " It was a terrific night, and probably my best birthday ever. Yay for 25!" Clearly at peace about being twenty five, but nothing deep to share.
As insignificant as my 25th birthday post was, apparently 26 was even less. There was no post! Seems like since my birthday fell in the time around a trip to celebrate my mother in law's birthday in Morro Bay (awesome trip) and a trip to visit a good friend in Oregon, I considered my birthday not worthy of writing about!
Turning 27 was a footnote in a post about our Ireland trip being delayed (because originally I would have been gone on my birthday, and then the trip was postponed, so we celebrated after all). I said, " Small thing, but it was a nice night" since about half of the original group couldn't make it as the date changed to later in the month, and then switched back to my actual birthday.
28 got its own post, with a strong dose of wistfulness for the time I am at now. "There is the added weird feeling where I remember not so long ago that I
expected to be a mother by 26... and here I am at 28 and still not one.
I know that time is coming, but it is an interesting feeling all the
same as just another reminder of how much time has passed since we first
decided that we were ready."
Twenty nine shows the main shift, "Twenty nine is quite the amazing birthday. Not because of any special
party or dinner (though I get one of those later) but because I got the
present that I have wanted for the last four years- I am a mom." Only one child on the outside, with another growing inside, but definitely a mom.
I have so much to be thankful for, and my life is so different than how I started my last decade. From 2004 to 2014, I graduated from college, got a masters, got a teaching credential, got married, got a house, got two dogs, two cats, have taught six different classes worth of students, and become a mom of two great kids. My twenties were great, to be sure, but I am ready to step into my next decade with my head held high.
By forty, Grace will be 12, and Remington will be 10. I will have seen all of Remington's big milestones of walking, talking, and other "no longer a baby" moments. Both kids will start school, and Grace will even be almost starting junior high. Blake and I will have celebrated our ten year anniversary, and will be getting close to twenty years of marriage. Who knows what other significant moments will be a part of these next ten years. I am sure that we will experience our fair share of good, bad, happy and sad, with hopefully greater quantities of the positives than the negatives.
I am ready to say it. I am now (at least in a couple hours) a thirty year old!
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