Well, I guess this is growing up...

Before I get started with today's post - I'm excited to announce the winners of our Kindred Photo App giveaway.  Without further ado, they are:

1.  Amanda B.
2.  Adriane
3.  Dawn

Congratulations!  You can claim your prize by sending your email address to newmomontheblog@gmail.com.   (You'll need to use the same email address when you register your account on the app!)

Okay...now, back to the blog.

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As mentioned previously, today is my 30th birthday.
There are a lot of things I hoped to do before I turned 30.

I wanted to have a Master’s degree in a related field AND be working in that field.  I wanted to travel a lot more than I did.  I was hoping to be closer to free from my student debt (which I realize is kind of at odds with the first item on this list).  I wanted to be done having children by the time I turned 30.

I haven’t accomplished any of those things, in case you are wondering.

Instead, life happened and while I can truthfully say I’m very happy at the place I am in my life, it is the human condition to want that which we do not have.  So, on the days leading up to today, my 30th birthday, I can’t say I was sad about ticking off the next decade in my life (I not only believe it is a great, great privilege to grow older, I’ve also never in my life considered 30 to be an old age).  However, I must admit, I was a little bummed about the list of things I didn’t accomplish by now.

But, then I looked back at who I was when I celebrated my entrance into my 20s. Back then, I was a person who, if I remember correctly, marked the occasion in a frat house by consuming way too much cinnamon flavored liqueur and then spending the rest of the decade avoiding the stuff like the plague.

I’ve come a long way.

And I don’t just mean that I eventually learned my drinking limits.  I mean that in looking back over the years, my entire life as I know it was shaped in this decade.

I learned a lot - from school, from therapy, from the people I surrounded myself with.  I completed college and started my career.  (If you can believe it - I started my 20s without even knowing what Facebook was.)  It was in my 20s that I made one of the defining moments of my life to pick up my life at one college and start it back in St. Louis at another.  I went on a lot of dates.  And eventually all of those dates introduced me to the man who would become by husband.  I discovered many of my views about how the world works.  I found a deeper connection with my own faith and views of the world and when it that has been shaken and disputed - I've found that it really and truly is what I value, not just what I was indoctrinated to believe.  And, I figured out that it really doesn’t matter to me if someone values something else - that we can still probably be really good friends.  I got married.  (Something that I wasn’t totally sure was ever going to happen to me when I was in my early 20s.)  I gave birth.  (Something that I wasn’t even sure I wanted to happen in my early 20s.)  I picked up my life (again) and moved it to another city where I knew basically nothing and no one.  I met people and lost them in this decade.  

So, as I blow out 30 candles on this birthday cake of mine (and try not to set off the smoke alarm), I’m filled with hope.  Hope that I will be so lucky to have another decade filled with as many realizations of dreams; as many discoveries of truth; as many life affirmations; as many defining moments. 

This decade was pretty incredible.  So.  You better bring it, next decade.  I’m ready for you.