30th Birthday Week. :)

photo credit: Emily Crall Photography

Yep! The BIG 30! I'm actually pretty excited about this birthday and I don't get excited over birthdays....

My reasons for this excitement is pretty sad though, really. People that know me well, and who have walked with me most my life, have told us that we have lived so much life. In fact, I've already started writing a book about it! Ridiculous. However.... people that don't know me as well, or have just met me, they ask my age. I say, "twenty (something)" and they do the head tilt back, sometimes even with the hand pat in the air directed towards me and say, "Oh! You're so young!" (as in ... "oh...you'll learn") I've wanted to punch a many people for treating me this way. They don't even realize how depressing it is to be reminded that, 'Yes... I'm young and I have my whole freaking life of suffering more still ahead of me. Can you just lock me in an insane asylum now?'

You know the famous verse, "Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe." (1 Timothy 4:12) This is a great motivator for all young people, but let's be honest here, I don't think old(er) people have as easy of a time heeding to a secondary point here of NOT being the one that's doing the looking down.

But there's something about thirty. Glorious thirty. With thirty (something) I can be taken maybe a little more seriously? I know... I told you it's sad. But I'm over the top, glad with all my heart to be thirty finally. I'm not worried about "getting old" right now. I don't mind my "silver hairs" that have already started taking up residence on my head almost a decade ago. I've always had an old soul.

So my family actually surprised me (first. time. ever.) with a birthday party that we were all assembled for anyway for the 4th of July. How convenient! So I pulled the birthday card in order to make everyone play Squeeze (card game) with me that I'm kickass at (and nobody ever wants to play with me, so this was really a dream come true) and of course.... the queen of the party wins. It was fabulous.

So here's to finally... finally being 30. Not so dirty, not so flirty, but certainly thriving. ... or at least... I hope I can continue thriving as the next chapter of my life unfolds into 5 growing kids and a husband who hopefully has learned his lessons to keep his feet on the ground.

Ha, who am I kidding? Here's to not dying! Cheers!

Yep. Rain makes it perfect.