Another Birthday Here and Gone....

Well, another birthday milestone is here and gone.  I'm excitedly calling 32 the 3rd anniversary of my 29th Birthday!  That sounds so much more monumental -AND young :)  So, only 364 more days until the 4th anniversary of my 29th birthday!

I know many people really struggle with birthdays.  I have a good friend who put herself in the hospital with HIVES when she turned 25!  Most of you may be sighing at the thought that 25 may be
 'old'....but I remember, at the time, it was a huge milestone.  One where some of my friends reflected and thought- oh  man, I'm 25, don't have the job I like and don't have a man yet....ARGHHH!  Well, happily, all of them are 'married up' with babies today and all is well.  But at the time, you find yourself only seeing others where their careers or families are something you compare yourself to by default....and adding a birthday onto it is just fuel to the fire. 

I remember my 21st birthday.  My brother, who was 11 at the time, made me a '21st Birthday Survival Kit'.  It was great.... Contents included my old volleyball knee pads, headache medicine....and something for those 'screaming scooters' (as the sign said) the next day.  Very original!  4 years later I had been working in the boring real world for 4 years and my co-workers took me out to a great lunch celebrating my first 'quarter century' of life.  Literally - that's what the email said.  I thought I was going to break into hives when I read that!   We went to Heaven on Seven downtown Chicago and they all shared stories about when they were ONLY 25...note, most of them were 4-8 years older than me.

I was ok til about 28.  28 was the year when I could no longer technically say 'mid-20s'.  I was also a new mom to the twins and approaching my 30s seemed like a nightmare.  Seriously - how could this be anything but a downhill slide?  In my 30 years of life thus far, I'd graduated from high school, college, grad school, worked 8 years and made some good money, ran 3 marathons- and had twins!  What else?!?  All I could think of happening after I turned 30....was work for the next 30 years!  About that time a great song came out.  I'm a huge fan of country music, and most likely you can find a song that fits the need to your 'crisis' of the moment.  Here was mine from a couple years back:



Tim McGraw always seems to know how to make it all right :)  That 6 months before I turned 30, I think I was struggling to find acceptance with 30 - from within.  I wanted to run one more marathon as a 29 year old....be able to clock that 4th one to reassure myself that 'I still had IT'.  And guess what, on April 4, 2009 - I did.  I ran the Illinois Marathon in Champaign at the ripe old age of 29 and 11.25 months - and EVEN got a new PR (personal record).  THAT helped me realize, I'm going to be OK and I am ready to face what 30 has ready for me!

My family threw a fabulous party for me with family and friends at a local restaurant, and work even got me a cake!  My boss said the words pretty graciously on my 30th birthday (he was about to turn 60 at the time)...

...."I remember when I turned 30....we needed to get you a cake and appreciate this day.  You will feel dark wondering that could possibly happen in the next 30 years after your first 30 years.  It's ok.....it'll more great and more special than you can ever dream of."

Wow....hearing John say those words and heck, Tim McGraw on repeat, I stepped away from the cliff and came to some inner peace.  I quickly found myself making some new to-do lists for at least the next ten years:

• Run one marathon a year until I'm 40
• Pass the SE (Structural Engineer) 16 Hour Licensing Exam 
• Buy a new 'real' house and sell our townhouse
• Invest time....time...time....into the kids!
• Strive harder at work to advance the industry
• Start a garden in my new back yard....and grow most of our own vegetables this summer!
• Reach out more to friends I've lost touch with
• Travel more as the kids get older
• Stay up-to-date on back home family happenings...from afar.

Well....I just completed my 2nd marathon of this decade two weeks ago.  I passed the SE last year.....and we bought our new house last June - looking good!   Setting goals and checking things off the list are great feelings of accomplishment that have made me not loathe the passing of each year, but actually set up new goals and timetables for WHAT to accomplish WHEN.  This year as I approached 32, I found myself in a little rut post-marathon....per THIS struggle I mentioned after the race.  So....I made a list last year for 'what to do when I'm 32!'

• Run my 12th Half Marathon on April 30th
• Run my 7th Marathon/4th Chicago Marathon in October to raise money for Down Syndrome awareness in honor of my god daughter Addison
• Celebrate my 10th Wedding anniversary with my hubby - without kids - in Mexico!
• My mom is turning 50 - hello....gotta party to plan!
• My baby brother is graduating from college next month and moving to my 'home away from home' - Carbondale!  He's going to law school at SIU and guess what - he's gonna need a mentor to shepherd him down there as many weekends as possible :)
• Start blogging more.  I love writing.  By putting 'pen to paper' or 'fingers to keyboard', I can take advantage of all these 'crazy life experience' nuggets to help me rationalize them....and not forget the funny ones along the way.
• This will be my last summer to push the twins in 5k and 10k races.  Soak it up and sign up for as many as possible before it's too late.  My last opportunity for calling them babies :)
• My babies are starting kindergarten this fall.  Be active and involved in this transition and in the classroom....throughout their first year of life as - what they call - big kids!
• Travel more as a family and do more outdoor activities as a family - hiking, biking, and exploring!

Once I had my nice list in place, I realized that 32 wasn't going to be so bad.  IN FACT, it was going to be GREAT!  I already have the base of a great job that I love that supports an active family lifestyle as a priority, not a secondary item, and I need to continue to love this life I have.  My family is great and we're happy and healthy....really, what else do I or does anyone really need?

So, yesterday was the big 3-2 (ya know....the 3rd anniversary of your 29th birthday! :) ), and it was a Monday at work...AND - it was raining.  But you know what, it was GREAT!  About once every 2 minutes throughout the entire day, a new Facebook post of 'congratulations' rolled in.  It seems so trivial but it really is a great spirit lifter.  Seriously, a hundred people taking time out of their day to say "Happy Birthday", that's pretty great!  Then for dinner, we all went to dinner at this great Asian restaurant in town - and EVEN ordered a bottle of wine - on a Monday night!  Woo hoo....talk about going all out :)  They even sang Happy Birthday to me after dinner, and the kids ate everything on their plates - mostly food they had never tried before!  Wow....now that is the perfect birthday!

So...1 day in to 32, and I'm doing ok.  Not on the cliff's edge and actually ok with 32.  Yep, I can say THIRTY TWO out loud and confidently.  I know the twins will grow up too fast, and before I know it, I'll be 42 celebrating our 20 year wedding anniversary....with snobby 15 year olds.  So, I'm gonna love this year and soak it up.  Because really, does it get any better?

With my ice cream dessert - with pistachio drizzle on top!

Bad lighting - but here is our family...at Asian Harbor

When we got home from dinner, we opened the mail
to see the twins medals from THEIR race in St. Louis a couple
weeks ago.  So, we posed with all our medals. 
Gotta say, proud mama on her birthday :)