Sunday, August 29, 2010

The countdown begins

They say that 30 is the new 20 right?  I am beginning to think that the person who came up with this slogan definitely isn't as worn out as I am.

When we are 14 we want to be 16, and at 16 we think that 18 is just around the corner.  After we turn 18 we can't wait to be 21!  What the heck was wrong with us, our whole lives up until this point we have been wishing away!

A few weeks ago I turned 29, and yes, I really am 29! Not 29+1, not the first anniversary of my 29th birthday, just plain OLD 29!  I know that those of you out there that are older than me are saying "oh, you are just a babe", or "29 isn't so bad?".  Well, think back to when you turned 29 and I'm sure that the anxiety of 30 being around the corner was on your mind too.

The past decade has been good to me.  I got my first job at the hospital when I was 18.  Soon after I graduated from nursing school at 20.  I was the "baby" of the unit.  I can remember when I was working day shift and I would stay out with the girls most of the night before, go home and shower, and work a 12 hour shift.  Now if I go out for a drink or dinner with the girls, first I have to take a nap before I go, and then I feel like I have taken a sleeping pill after one glass of wine. All I can think about is going home, putting on my PJ's and laying on my couch!

At 22 I meet my wonderful husband.  It was such a magical time in my life.  He was in his residency and I had just went back to school as well. We would have dinner dates in the hospital cafeteria or leave love notes on each others cars.  I think about all of the late nights, with class early the next morning, and then going to work after class...it makes me exhausted thinking about how we did it!  Now I know how we did, we were young and  in LOVE!

I was a bride at 24, now to some that seems young, but in my family I felt like the old maid.  My mom and dad were married at 18 and 19. My aunts and uncles most of the same.  Our amazing Hawaii honeymoon seems like a lifetime ago!  I loved those first few years of being married.  When Bobby would get called out to the hospital in the night I would go with him.  We would just get in the car some evenings and take a drive to see where the road would take us.  There were a few times that we almost ran out of gas, and actually one time we did!

At 26 we welcomed our first baby.  I can recall looking at a breast pump for the first time and thinking, and what exactly do I do with this?  Within a few weeks we felt like pros.  That led to us thinking that we could do this again, and by Livi's first birthday I was already 3 months pregnant with Frankie! 

Since then I have turned in my stethoscope for parenting books.  Instead of shopping for cute matching panties and bras, I find myself looking for something with "minimizer" in the title.  I now know the purpose of control top panty hose.  I don't color my hair for fun, but instead out of necessity of the gray hair that I am finding.  I feel older.  I am older. 

As I am gaining momentum on the downhill slide, I have decided to embrace my last year of my 20's!  What if I am excited about the possibility of buying a minivan?  What if I have to trade in my thongs for control top briefs.  I'm the happiest that I have ever been.  I'm a wife to the best man in the world, I'm the mother of two healthy, beautiful babies.  I have the opportunity to work part time at a job that I love, and still get to see my babies grow every day!  I have the best friends and family that a person could ever ask for!  I am loved!

Bring on 30, I am ready.  I might just get those thongs back out again after all! 

1 comment:

  1. How does the saying go? Kids keep you young... But first they make you old.

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