Did you check out that awesome Ariel birthday cake from my sixth birthday? I so wish I could still have Disney Princess cakes! I digress.
I’m going to be forty!!! In ten years, that is. As I approach my 30th birthday tomorrow, Meg Ryan’s voice from When Harry Met Sally keeps ringing in my ears. I’ve always approached birthdays with excitement and I’ve celebrated that I’ve been blessed with another year of life. But when June hit this year (out of nowhere I might add, I had no idea it was coming up so soon) I was surprised to find that I did not feel ready to celebrate turning thirty. All of a sudden I realized that three decades of my life were over, and I’ll never get that time back. I’ve been looking back over the last thirty years in my mind and trying to figure out what I’d change and what I want the next thirty years to look like.
So I’m making my lists of things to do better or more of or less of or for the first time. I’m also taking stock of just how far I’ve come as a human being.
Evelyn
Liam
Mom Skills
I’m pretty proud of my mom skills most days but parenting better will always be on the list. My children are growing up waaaaaay too fast. They’re not babies anymore. I promise in the next ten years I will finish their baby books. I just want them (the books) to be perfect, but the time really does go by so quickly and I know that pretty soon I may not remember everything as clearly as I’d like. That’s a scary thought in itself.
Read more to Evelyn.
Do more puzzles with Liam.
Give them more grace and patience.
Give myself more grace.
Introduce them to more vegetables.
Be more active with them.
Cuddle with them more.
Help them to be independent, strong, confident, and full of faith.
And on and on it goes…
Health
For years I thought it was “my battle,” but in the last two years, I have had a “healthy-living” enlightenment. I’m fighting for health instead of against myself and my personal demons.
Learn more about good nutrition every day.
Be a nutrition and fitness lover, and be okay with that being a part of my identity. I am not the overweight girl I used to be.
Exercise regularly. For a purpose. Not because I have to, but because I get to.
Stop reaching for a number on the scale. Reach for taking more pictures with my family without being self-conscious.
Self Worth
Value Myself. When I was about 11 years old, there was this very pretty girl, (you know the one,) she was popular and perfect in my eyes (most other girls were, I was the only weird one) and one day at recess I literally went up to her and asked her, “Are you my friend?” Can you believe it! She said yes, and I just didn’t believe her. Somewhere deep within me, I was sure she was lying to spare my poor, fat girl feelings. Maybe she was. Maybe she wasn’t. I’ll never know. But I was so embarrassed by myself that I don’t think I ever spoke to her again. I just could not believe that someone like her could ever be friends with me.
I was a very insecure girl. Over the years as I made new friends my confidence grew, but the insecurities never truly disappeared. Participating in choir and theater in high school gave me a creative outlet and an escape from family troubles.
That little girl is inside me still, full of doubt and insecurity. There is still a piece of me that wants to ask people, “Are you my friend? Do you really like me?”
Find value in my own self-worth.
Learn to appreciate myself and the gifts I have to offer. And offer them.
Be confident despite fear of failure. Or the fear that people won’t like me.
Speak my truths and censor myself less.
Advocate for things that matter to me.
Invest in my relationship with the Lord more. Focus on my faith.
Value my worth as a mother and a wife.
Do More
The sky is the limit. I hope that in the next thirty years I will do more. Go more. See more. Appreciate more. Prioritize better. Follow through. Set goals, achieve goals, repeat. Volunteer more. Help more. Learn more. Forgive more. Love more. Be more open and honest. Share more. Give more. Listen more. Be a better mom. Be a better wife. Focus on my husband, appreciate and value him as my best friend, partner, and other-half, always. Be a better daughter, sister, and friend to others.
Let’s get this party started, Thirty, because before I know it, I’m going to be forty!
Did you check out that awesome Ariel birthday cake from my sixth birthday? I so wish I could still have Disney Princess cakes! I digress.
I’m going to be forty!!! In ten years, that is. As I approach my 30th birthday tomorrow, Meg Ryan’s voice from When Harry Met Sally keeps ringing in my ears. I’ve always approached birthdays with excitement and I’ve celebrated that I’ve been blessed with another year of life. But when June hit this year (out of nowhere I might add, I had no idea it was coming up so soon) I was surprised to find that I did not feel ready to celebrate turning thirty. All of a sudden I realized that three decades of my life were over, and I’ll never get that time back. I’ve been looking back over the last thirty years in my mind and trying to figure out what I’d change and what I want the next thirty years to look like.
So I’m making my lists of things to do better or more of or less of or for the first time. I’m also taking stock of just how far I’ve come as a human being.
Evelyn
Liam
Mom Skills
I’m pretty proud of my mom skills most days but parenting better will always be on the list. My children are growing up waaaaaay too fast. They’re not babies anymore. I promise in the next ten years I will finish their baby books. I just want them (the books) to be perfect, but the time really does go by so quickly and I know that pretty soon I may not remember everything as clearly as I’d like. That’s a scary thought in itself.
Read more to Evelyn.
Do more puzzles with Liam.
Give them more grace and patience.
Give myself more grace.
Introduce them to more vegetables.
Be more active with them.
Cuddle with them more.
Help them to be independent, strong, confident, and full of faith.
And on and on it goes…
Health
For years I thought it was “my battle,” but in the last two years, I have had a “healthy-living” enlightenment. I’m fighting for health instead of against myself and my personal demons.
Learn more about good nutrition every day.
Be a nutrition and fitness lover, and be okay with that being a part of my identity. I am not the overweight girl I used to be.
Exercise regularly. For a purpose. Not because I have to, but because I get to.
Stop reaching for a number on the scale. Reach for taking more pictures with my family without being self-conscious.
Self Worth
Value Myself. When I was about 11 years old, there was this very pretty girl, (you know the one,) she was popular and perfect in my eyes (most other girls were, I was the only weird one) and one day at recess I literally went up to her and asked her, “Are you my friend?” Can you believe it! She said yes, and I just didn’t believe her. Somewhere deep within me, I was sure she was lying to spare my poor, fat girl feelings. Maybe she was. Maybe she wasn’t. I’ll never know. But I was so embarrassed by myself that I don’t think I ever spoke to her again. I just could not believe that someone like her could ever be friends with me.
I was a very insecure girl. Over the years as I made new friends my confidence grew, but the insecurities never truly disappeared. Participating in choir and theater in high school gave me a creative outlet and an escape from family troubles.
That little girl is inside me still, full of doubt and insecurity. There is still a piece of me that wants to ask people, “Are you my friend? Do you really like me?”
Find value in my own self-worth.
Learn to appreciate myself and the gifts I have to offer. And offer them.
Be confident despite fear of failure. Or the fear that people won’t like me.
Speak my truths and censor myself less.
Advocate for things that matter to me.
Invest in my relationship with the Lord more. Focus on my faith.
Value my worth as a mother and a wife.
Do More
The sky is the limit. I hope that in the next thirty years I will do more. Go more. See more. Appreciate more. Prioritize better. Follow through. Set goals, achieve goals, repeat. Volunteer more. Help more. Learn more. Forgive more. Love more. Be more open and honest. Share more. Give more. Listen more. Be a better mom. Be a better wife. Focus on my husband, appreciate and value him as my best friend, partner, and other-half, always. Be a better daughter, sister, and friend to others.
Let’s get this party started, Thirty, because before I know it, I’m going to be forty!
Do More
Sense and Stephanie 