Some thoughts on life.

You guys.  Today is August 17th.  Six months after February 17th of this year.  And six months until February 17th of next year.

My unbirthday, if you will.

And in the past I haven't been a huge birthday person.  In fact, it wasn't until I was an adult that birthdays really started to be a big deal to me.  But in the past few years I've really started to look forward to my birthday.  I get giddy thinking about the week of.  The phone calls or sweet texts I will receive.  The little surprise I hope will arrive at my door.  The plethora of coupons for free drinks or cupcakes that will flood my inbox.  I would be lying if I said it doesn't bum me out when people forget to call (ehem, mother...) or when the day drifts by unnoticed.

Usually my birthday is something I think about for a few weeks or maybe a month ahead of time.  But this year I can honestly say I've been thinking about my birthday from about 5 seconds after my last birthday ended.

This next year, I'm turning the big 3-0.

And while there are a lot of mixed emotions about rolling over into a new decade, there is a lot of excitement as well.  Not just for the momentary things like gifts and a celebration (although that sounds fabulous, too.  And please, I'm already working on my birthday list.  And envisioning the most Pinteresting 30th birthday party ever.  And dreaming of the most perfectly epic 30th birthday trip in the world!), but also for all the anticipation of what lies ahead in the next ten years.  From the ages of twenty to thirty there were so many huge milestones, both good and bad.  Moving from up north to down south and then back to the middle, beginning a relationship with the man who would eventually become my husband, switching colleges (several times), becoming a teacher! becoming a wife! becoming a mother! becoming an auntie nine times over, buying a home, selling a home, traveling the world, and watching a whole lot of good TV all in between.  So much happens in the decade of your 20's, I can't imagine how much fuller my life will become between now and 40.

I've been thinking a lot about 30 in the past six months.  Thinking of how important it is to take the time to celebrate life.  To accept my life now for what it is.  And not dwell on what it isn't.  I'm not ashamed to say I'm disappointed at some things that haven't come to pass that I thought would be by the time I reached 30.  But I also can't lie and say that life isn't pretty sweet right now in all its imperfections and uncertainty.

Good friends!
A man that I love!
A child I adore!
Our amazing church!
The perfect job!
A precious little home!
My family, both the one I was born into and the one I so happily married into!
Plans for a fabulous year, both in our daily lives and in special things to come!

Thirty is going to be a splendid year.  And I know it is still six months away.  But I'm really, really looking forward to my special day.  And really, really looking forward to where God will take me over the course of this next decade.

I like coffee.  At 20, at almost 30, and for the rest of my life.