It’s funny how quickly time passes. Maybe some of you can relate. Time drug its feet getting me through my teens and rapidy gained momentum through my 20′s until I smacked into 30. One minute I was fretting over the perfect wedding and the next I was married with two kids. But what’s the big deal about thirty? Really at 29 everyone is like, “OMG, I’m going to be 30 in a year!” and the nastalgia is lost on you at the actual turning of 30. But one thing is for sure. I can’t believe how much difference a few years can make. Six years ago I graduated from college and worked full time and my biggest worry was what I wanted to spend my paycheck on, vacation or furniture. Before that my biggest worries consisted of writing that 50 page term paper I hadn’t thought about all semester, or deciding whether I should play hooky from my late class and instead watch Dawson’s Creek with my roommates. There is a laundry list of things I worry about now that largely outweigh those of my “youth.” Now my biggest worries include staring at a monitor making sure my son’s stomach is rising and falling as he sleeps while wondering if I shut the garage door before I came to bed, or if I locked the front? Did I pay that insurance bill? Crap! I think I gave Katie the wrong medicine! Sorry Dan! It was the perfect opportunity to throw that one in there. And of course this all the little stuff that goes through my mind as I crawl into bed tired and defeated. And by defeated I mean mentally defeated by my 3 year old. She goes by her whit much easier then I. On the upside at least I know my kids are safely and comfortably asleep in their beds.
Since when did I grow up? When did life happen? Little did I know life hadn’t even begun before Katie and Steven entered this world. EVERYTHING changed dramitially when Steve and I became parents, down to the food we put in our mouths and the language that came out. But life only got better from then on and of course went quickly.
What is it about 30 that is so life defining? Still haven’t quite put my finger on it. Is it that my 20′s are over? Is it that I should have achieved something life altering? Is it that for 9 years now I’ve been able to drink alcohol legally? And I won’t mention that now half the time I don’t have to produce my license. Is it that at one point in time I imagined myself as a completely different person at 30 years old-say a wealthy single woman, awesome clothes, no children and lots of admirers and about 2o pounds lighter? Hmm maybe that’s it. But maybe we all have a different grasp of who we really are until life takes over and makes decisions we didn’t even know were made until the deed was already done. For instance, I am a married stay-at-home mother with no money of her own, a drawer full of cotton underwear, t-shirts, and workout pants and my sneakers are my favorite pair of shoes. Go figure!
Hey, be glad you still get carded at least half the time! You know you are starting to look old and worn out when they no longer bother to ask…that is the defining moment of being in you 30s.