Do you have enough nerve?

The year 2015 was the last year of my 20's. In American culture it's symbolic (for most people) to turn 30. It was for me as well. It was fun, and not too serious. I had a surprise Harry Potter party with my family. We’re only as old as we feel after all! I am grateful for the opportunity to age. It's a luxury not given to everyone.

What's so special about me? Nothing outrageous I tell you. I'm a mother of three who finished her degree at 30 and began a healthy lifestyle at 29. It's my mission to tell everyone it's never too late to start working toward their goals.

Don't let the length of time to complete a goal feel so daunting that you don't even try. If you're fortunate, that time is going to pass you by regardless. Why not take active steps toward any goal of yours no matter how big or small? I was 20 the first time I went to college. I went back when I was 26. By then I’d acquired a stepchild and would later give birth to another child. There’s a program out there fit for everyone. Go at your own pace because eventually you’ll reach the day when you’re finished. College isn’t for everyone. No pressure from me here. It was the right choice for me despite it being time consuming. In my mind it was worth all of my effort. I hope I still think so when I’m repaying the loans. ;)

It’s never too late to be a better you. For me, that meant my health. There are hundreds of articles to read about cancer as well as many other diseases and how they’re linked to our foods, electronics, and Tupperware. At first I started small. I worked out at home and I cut soda and fast food. Then I joined a gym after I realized I wanted to keep going. Food is the hardest part of a healthy lifestyle. We will always love the bad stuff we shouldn’t love. I have those things here and there. Health is a marathon not a race. I’ve tightened in further on food and surprised myself when I came to like broccoli and spinach. I’ve been a lifetime hater of vegetables.  

What has been the result? I have improved levels of energy and overall happiness. Exercise and food can be a serious anti-depressant. While I’m thrilled that it’s also helped me drop some baby weight, the best part about your health is that it will sustain you. It makes you happier and betters the odds that you won’t develop some of the avoidable illnesses. I don’t want to leave my family any earlier than I have to and taking care of me is really the best course of action that   I can take to be preventative.

Whatever your goal is – heath, career, education – go for it. You’re never too old to make the first step on a long journey. We have one life to live and I believe that we have to keep reaching for ways to improve ourselves.

Nerdy Thirty

Today, I am thirty years old. In my early twenties I joked that I felt thirty because of the toll my kids took on my life. Turning thirty I can appreciate how young it actually feels. It's not how I expected it to feel. I am grateful for another year of life. Not everyone is given the chance to live to the young age of thirty. I appreciate my birthdays for what they are, a celebration of another year lived on earth.

I decided to make a list of 30 things I've experienced over 30 years.

1. I've lived in two states
2. I've traveled out of the country
3. I have witnessed the birth of a loved one
4. I have felt the loss of friends and family members
5. I married a wonderful man
6. I have given birth to two beautiful children
7. I have miscarried one child
8. I swam with dolphins and stingrays in Florida
9. I've visited Disneyland and Disneyworld
10. I swam with a sea lion and seal on my honeymoon
11. In the last three years alone, I've read at least 346 books without counting textbooks from college. (Thanks Goodreads)
12. I am a few months away from finishing my Bachelors Degree
13. I started my own business. Go have a look!
14. I raised over $1,000 in my first year volunteering with Relay for Life
15. I won a free trip to Disneyland on a radio station but didn't know that until it was too late. (I'm still pained by that)
16. I won a radio contest for submitting an original quote: "Our words are like fingerprints, so choose them wisely. You'll never know the lasting impression they leave behind."
17. I learned to swim in college
18. I've had a biopsy before. No cancer here!
19. I have been in four non-serious car accidents.
20. I designed the cover of a yearbook in high school. I thought I was super cool for that.
21. I was captain of the Varsity cheer squad my senior year. Thought I was cool for that also. LOL
22. I joined a gym for my first time at 29 years old.
23. I saw Paramore in concert this year. The best concert I've ever attended.
24. I have been a Maid of Honor, Matron of Honor, and Bridesmaid. One time each. :)
25. I attended bookstore parties and bought the last two Harry Potter books at midnight of their release.
26. I cried when Dobby died. (duh.) Both in the book and the movie.
27. I cried at least 12 times when I read "The Fault in Our Stars"
28. I have met one of my favorite authors at Powell's bookstore.
29. I attended a meet and greet of Twilight actors, but hated the movie.
30. The moment I knew that my husband was truly my soulmate was when he said, "Halle is just as much mine as she is yours." I cherish those words. You can't understand how important that is to hear unless your partner is a step-parent to your child. I bet he doesn't even remember. :)

Happy 8th Birthday to My Precious Love

My daughter will be 8 years old on Tuesday! This birthday post comes early because I will be with family all weekend and won’t stop to reflect on her first 8 years of life.
*********

Halle Joyce,

You have been the light of my life since the day you were born. I learned how to be your mom without a guidebook or internet forums. It was all instinct and lessons from your loving grandma whom you clearly adore. We started out together, sharing a bedroom, in your grandparents’ house which I’m sure you vaguely remember. We moved out when you were four after we met Garrick and Isaiah and became our own family.

I’ve loved watching you grow and develop your own brother/sister relationship with Isaiah. When you’re a mother yourself you will better understand why that matters so much to me. Though you aren’t of blood relation, both of you know that you’re siblings and love each other as such. To love so freely and without hesitance is something that I hope stays with you always.

I’ll never see a giraffe at the zoo without remembering you yelling at them “hi neck!” or “bye bye neck!” I’ll never comb your hair without remembering the short ringlet curls you had as a toddler. I will always be proud of your daily efforts to learn two languages. I will do my best to remain patient when your curious mind churns out questions about the world around you. I appreciate your desire to understand the how and why of everything. When I hear “let it snow” at Christmas time I will remember how you used to ask me to sing “frightful” to you. When you say Isaiah’s name I’ll remember how you couldn’t pronounce it with the I, and called him Zaiah. I will smile every time we kiss goodnight and you remind me “don’t close my door all the way”. With a reminder every night for the last four years I promise that I will not close it all the way.

Thank you for always listening to what I say, 90% of the time, with very little grief. You’re an amazing girl, wonderful daughter, and awesome sister. Me, Garrick, Isaiah, Grayson, and everyone who knows you, love and adores you. Thank you for being you.

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” 
― Dr. Seuss, Happy Birthday to You!

Kisses,

Mom

"Have I Drooped?"

We are well into March of 2013 and I am finally returning to my blog. After I had my son Grayson on November 19^th I just didn't have the energy to do anything extra. Once I gained some energy and some much needed sleep, all I wanted to do was focus on him. Every minute possible of my twelve week maternity leave was spent with him. The house certainly wasn't kept amazingly clean. After all, when would I have another twelve weeks to spend with my son?

Aside from new baby, I've taken on a few more tasks to fill up my time. I have almost finished my two classes for winter term, I've returned to work, and I have joined the committee for Vancouver’s Relay for Life.  I have filled my plate a bit. Recently added to my load of things to do is “be healthy”. I didn't make a new year’s resolution to lose weight and I haven’t joined a gym. What I have decided is to try harder to eat better and to implement exercise. After all, I have had two kids and each day I get a little older. Things are going to droop if I don’t keep up with my health! As Debra says on Everybody Loves Raymond (I’m paraphrasing here) “When men age they become handsome and distinguished. Women have to worry about the day they get out of bed and everything hits the floor.”

That said, happy New Year! I look forward to another year of rambling and sharing here.

Look Who's Sprouting Gray Hairs

I’m getting old. How do I know? How did it suddenly dawn on me so clearly that I felt the need to blog about it? It isn’t the gray hairs. My husband found two, Katie found three, Aleigha found one. Since they say when you pull it out two grow in its place I am bound to have at least sixteen new gray hairs on top of the others we hadn’t found yet. I know that it’s supposedly a silly myth, but I will go off topic and say it is true that hair grows back thicker and darker when you shave. I have yet to find a person who agrees with the experts and says that one is a myth.

Anyhow, back on topic, I am getting old. I’ve come to this conclusion for a few reasons; the main reason being that I HATE the radio. Everything sounds like garbage to me. My younger cousin never fails to remind me that I’m just old and that’s why I like nothing. Yes maybe so. I also don’t laugh at the things I once would have found hilarious. Another reason, I LOVE to stay in. Fourth of July came and went and I was perfectly content watching NCIS all day with my husband. I’m sure if we had the kids we would have done something, but it was nice to do “nothing”. Not long ago I hated to do nothing. My husband is the king of the home-bodies. He likes nothing more than staying in. It drove me up the wall! I would plead to get out and do things. Not so much anymore. I love being technically lazy, reserving all of our energy to interact with our two big kids.

Speaking of kids, don’t they age you! As a parent I like to think I’m cool and also a MILF (woot woot). On the other side of the spectrum, I became a mom at 20 so I’ve always battled the balance of being a young adult and being a grown up mom. When I was 20 I felt like I was 25. I had to worry about health insurance for my child, doctor appointments, and over all wellness. After that I had to afford to feed and clothe her. I was jealous of my friends who had nice purses, shoes, and clothes and went on wild vacations. If I had money, who was I to spend it that way when my daughter needed things. This was my path and I wouldn’t trade it, but it aged my maturity very quickly.

Now that I’m 26, I feel 31-ish. Who knows for sure, but I imagine it’s pretty close to being 30. I have a kindergartener and first grader now. There are new needs and new wants at this stage, as well as bigger injuries. When I attend a school function or a birthday party the mom’s with kids my own kids’ ages are in their 30’s. I feel like I fit in among them but I wonder if they look at me and try to guess how old I must have been when I had my daughter. I hope they think I look REALLY young and guess 16 or 17 based on how young I look to them.

This post has no greater purpose. I just feel old on the inside, and thankfully look like a child on the outside. Can I really complain about how old I feel? My grandma birthed 16 children and lived to be 84 years old. She never stopped wearing her big costume jewelry or going to the casinos to gamble either. I love and miss you Grandma. I hope I “still got it” in my 80’s the way you did.