i'm thirty

last week was my birthday, and not just any birthday, this girl is 30!

i'm 30 years old, i'm not one of those gals whose afraid to tell her real age, and i like to kick! stretch! and kick! ... i'm 30!

i've always thought women at 30 are their most beautiful. if this is true for me, it's because of happiness, gratitude for my life, love, and family and friends. i don't know how i got so lucky.

 

i think a lot of people have a hard time with big birthdays: 30, 40, 50, 60. it's easy to compare your age to others in society and to reflect back on the times that you were youger.
 

the biggest lesson i've learned about looking back and feeling envious of those younger than me came from a paragraph in tuesdays with morrie by mitch albom.  if you haven't read it, morrie is an older man dying of ALS giving a class about life to a former student of his (mitch albom).  at one point mitch asks morrie if he's envious of him sitting there, young in his thirties, with full use of his body and a life ahead of him.  and morrie responds:

“Mitch, it is impossible for the old not to envy the young. But the issue is to accept who you are and revel in that. This is your time to be in your thirties. I had my time to be in my thirties, and now is my time to be seventy-eight. You have to find what’s good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And, age is not a competitive issue. The truth is, part of me is every age. I’m a three-year-old, I’m a five-year-old, I’m a thirty-seven-year-old, I’m a fifty-year-old. I’ve been through all of them, and I know what it’s like. I delight in being a child when it’s appropriate to be a child. I delight in being a wise old man when it’s appropriate to be a wise old man. Think of all I can be! I am every age up to my own. Do you understand? How can I be envious of where you are – when I’ve been there myself?”

 

 it's such a perfect perspective because it gives you so much power over your own age.  why would i wish to be twenty when i can own twelve, and nineteen, and any age until my age of 30?  i can be all of those numbers anytime i choose!  but a twenty year old can't be thirty.  and i can't be sixty-three.  (well hopefully someday)  and we can all have our own numbers and our own experiences to go with those numbers.  so what is there to be jealous of?  "age is not a competitive issue".

 

and man there is such a great list of things to associate with the thirtieth year.

- we got married!

- went to fiji and swam with manta rays

- eric got his phd

- we both got exciting new jobs

- we spent our summer hanging out with dolphins in australia

 

i'm so excited to be thirty.  right now, in this moment, eric and i have our new marriage, our families, our health, our dogs, and a plan for an exciting life.  thirty = happy.