Birthdays....and Other Signs of Aging

I read an article the other day called "30 Things You Should Do Before You Turn 30."
According to that article I have failed miserably at enjoying my 20s. I didn't travel the world solo, get a job in Australia (one of the 30 things I might actually have considered doing at some point); I didn't mud wrestle at a giant music festival or get a free condom at the Love Parade in Germany. What I did do in my 20s was get married, move to a foreign country, move across said foreign country, make a lot of amazing friends, and have two of the most beautiful kids in the universe.

Thirty has gone by so quickly. I think thirty was supposed to feel different, the start of something other than just a new decade of life, the first steps on the Road to Greater Maturity. Thirty was a pretty epic year: We sold our first house, celebrated our seventh anniversary, celebrated my 30th birthday (oh Cracker Barrel, how I miss you)...my Mom battled cancer (and won!), LJ started a new job, and most exciting, we moved Home to Canada just in time for Squawky's arrival - and that was just in the first six months!

So thirty was good, but 31 already feels like the 'real' new beginning. We're more settled and less in a state of flux. This is Home now and I feel like we've been here for years already. We love it here! Looking outside this morning it's an almost perfect spring day. The grass is green, the sky is a little blue with big puffy white clouds. The leaves are almost fully out and waltzing in the breeze. I can look down the street one direction and see a friend's house, I can look down the street in the other direction and see another friends house...we are incredibly blessed - even on the 'bad' days.

Thirty-one holds a lot of possibilities - first steps, first words, first written words - so here's to the hope of another year, here's to continued contentment. Here's to another year of living life and loving my family in a place I never thought I'd be, in a place I can't imagine ever leaving.


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And also - happy birthday to my birthday twin! I love you, Brenda!