karaspeak

Today is the day I turned 30. I remember being 7 and counting on the calendar to the year that I would be 30, and realized it was 2009. To me, at 7, that seemed countless years and thousands of memories away. And while, in some senses, it was, in others it arrived all too quickly. What I was struck with the most as the days ramped up (or down, depending on your point of view) to today, is how much we (the collective "we") look forward to our 20's - college, drinking, mindless fun, figuring out life, enjoying every minute of it, marriage, kids, and so on - and how much we dread at least the thought of our 30's - age, wrinkles, sagging, getting fat, not having any fun anymore, kids, bills, and so on. And while it is true that we will face some of those things in our 30's, what I realize more and more is that so much of life is perspective and more of how you feel and not so much what number coincides with your current position. So while I won't say I was eager to reach today and the milestone that it is, I definitely was not hopeless, but rather hopeful as I look forward to what this year and the 10 that follow have to bring with it. A baby, for one, which creates more hope than I could even care to recount. And the fact that I don't feel very 30, and hopefully don't look very 30, counts for something, at least in my mind!

(a sweet picture of two of my favorite things and most precious gifts)

So enough of that stuff. Today was just a typical day...and brought with it a morning full of rain that had been hanging around us for the past 20 days or so without fail. Luckily, I think today was the day the rain broke and it appears all things are sunny for the next week at least, if not longer. To me, this was Gift #1. I made my boys pancakes for breakfast, blueberry, to be precise, mostly because I like to hear Aiden say his rendition of the word blueberry. It's too cute. The morning with my boys was Gift #2. We'd planned to go out for lunch, but the rain was terrential at this point and Nathan still had brithday errands to run, so Aiden and I napped and had some good times playing and reading. Getting to love on my boy and rock him extra long to sleep was Gift #3. We spent a majority of the day seeking out a babysitter because ours had to go out of town at the last minute, so there was about an hour or two when we thought the night might not happen the way Big Daddy Nate had planned, but finally, at the last minute, a neighbor sitter pulled through and we were breathing a sigh of relief. Babysitters in general, but most especially on birthday days is Gift #4. After naptime Aiden and Nate "presented" me with their gifts...so add them up Gifts #5 -10...but the best part was getting the HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE. You can make this Gifts #10-20 since it's been on my "list of things to do before I turn 30" list for several years and I actually get to do it. October 10, I'll be flying high with my hubs over Nashville sipping on a Mimosa and enjoying the beautiful landscape where we live. I am beyond thrilled at this point. Nathan got us a driver for the evening, so after my delivered dinner (Gift #21) the driver arrived as Gift #22 to wisk us off for dessert...at Dairy Queen, my childhood favorite place for ice cream. He surprised me with not only Dairy Queen (Gift #23) but with four of my favorite people (Gift #22) and a cake, not just ice cream. Woo Hoo! So we dove in and devoured the cake. Yumm-y! And the driver was off to wisk us away to Gift #23, a visit to The Patterson House for drinks and more gifts! I was gifted a night of free babysitting (Gift #24), earrings and a ring (#25 & 26), a cookbook (Gift #27) because I LOVE cookbooks!, and an amazing book (Gift #28) of memories and sweet words of love and devotion from friends and family, which could easily suffice for hundreds of gifts, as it meant the world to me. Off to the car and back home. What a ride and what a special day. Gift #29 was spending the wonderful ride home with my hubby, who took a lot of time and effort to make me feel special and remembered on my big 30th birthday. Gift #30 is the actual act of turning 30. How in the world it happened, I'm not sure I'll ever know, but the fact that it is here is a true and special gift. From what I'm told, my 30's will be so much more amazing than my 20's so I look forward to the gift they will be and bring in the next decade.

And last but not least, THANK YOU Nathan, for making me feel special, loved, precious, honored, beautiful, and yours...it is a gift to share this life with you by my side. You are the best friend in the world.

Me preparing to DEVOUR some ice cream cake

Me and my favorite Dude on the planet

The fun table of peeps at The Patterson House

The girls toasting our next 30 years!