Friday, November 15, 2013

"I think I'll Take This Moment To Celebrate My Life..."

"...the ending of an era and the turning of a page." - Phil Vassar

Wow, it's hard to believe I am 33 years young. I wish in high school I would have written down what I thought I would be doing in my 30's, 40's, etc. I wonder if I would have predicted to be where I am right now. As I look back over the years, I realize I really haven't done all that much.

I had a busy childhood full of activities. There were few sports I didn't try and I'm still not sure how my parents were able to afford everything, let alone get me and my brother to all of our practices, meets, competitions, and games. Competitive gymnastics required training at least 5 days a week, plus multiple competitions outside of the state of Iowa. I chose to stop gymnastics when I was a Freshman in high school to focus on high school sports. I likely gave up a gymnastics scholarship when I made this choice. Looking back, I wonder if that was the best decision, but at the time my heart was not in the sport any longer. Although, this gave me the opportunity to do high school sports including volleyball and track.

Thankfully, I was on the track team or I would never have met Justin. We first met prior to track season in the weight room. He soon became one of our hurdle coaches and a good friend to many of us. We reconnected after I graduated and have now been together for nearly 14 years. Finding someone you want to spend the rest of your life with is something we all hope to have happen some day. I recently read a blog about marriage, reminding everyone that you don't marry to make yourself happy, you marry someone to make them happy. I hope that Justin would say I make him happy.

I think I would have predicted I would have 2-3 little ones by the time I was 33 years old. I never would have predicted to have twins, but we got two for the price of one and are truly blessed. I love being a mother and hope that my children would say I'm a good mom. It is definitely more challenging, but more rewarding that I ever thought it would be.

So now that I am turning the 33rd page of my life and starting my 34th page, I have so much more I want to accomplish. I am looking forward to traveling more and cannot wait for our trip in 2 years to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I've always been jealous that my brother was able to backpack through Europe and visit so many countries. I am fascinated with the Holocaust and would like to visit Auschwitz some day. Some days I think to myself, "I can't wait until my children are older so we can do ___" Then I realize that they are already growing up too fast and I wish I could freeze time. I love each new stage of development and I want to keep them little for as long as possible. When things slow down, I'd love to find time to volunteer again. I also have lots of little projects around the home that I hope to find time to do (thanks to Pinterest).

I also need to change my mindset. I have always been a worrier, and busy body type of person. Lately, I've realized that I have missed so much. My oldest is definitely a "stop and smell the flowers" type of girl. She likes to take her time getting dressed in the morning, picking out the perfect snack and toys to bring for a two hour road trip, or walk slowly through the grocery store, when I have limited time to get the items on my list and get out of there. Why are we always in such a hurry?

Today my 90 year old dialysis patient reminded me of something we should all live by: Live for today, forget yesterday, and don't worry about tomorrow. I definitely need to start living in the present and "spend precious moments with the one that I hold dear." Here's to the next 33 years!

 

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