Well, I’m Thirty…I can’t believe it!

I’ve honestly been dreading this day for years now…  30?  EW.  Only old people turn 30.  I’m too young and awesome to ever turn thirty hahahahaha!!!!  Alas, here we are.  I’ve done a lot of soul searching over the past couple of weeks and I’ve come to a profound conclusion…  Thirty is going to be freaking awesome.

My 20’s were HARD!!!  I got married when I was 20 — almost 10 years ago!  Oh my gosh, I can’t even say that out loud.  We were dirt poor.  Like, we literally couldn’t afford to do ANYTHING.  I remember our credit card bill one month was $600 and we were devastated.  It was the end of the world.  How could we have been so reckless with our spending?!  We’d try to mooch off the neighbors and get invited to parties where we knew there’d be dinner, or we’d invite our parents out to lunch knowing they’d pay.  We’d walk to the gas station for date night.  We budgeted two drinks, two candy bars and one red box.  And that was it!  And then it was Brian going to school and studying ALL. THE. TIME.  I was being pregnant and having babies and never sleeping and trying to lose weight and then getting pregnant again and then trying to balance our finances because we still had no money.  And then it was me finding this online space and working tirelessly to create my brand.  And truthfully I didn’t even realize I was creating a brand!  Blogging wasn’t really a thing six years ago ya know?  I worked for four years without hardly earning a dime, but I didn’t care.  This space and you guys gave me the outlet and friendship I needed as a young stay at home mom!

Over the last 10 years I got married, graduated college, supported my husband through grad school, moved 12 times, gave birth to four beautiful and healthy babies, purchased 2 homes and never in a million years would I have pictured this would be my life.

All the hard work we put into our 20’s is finally starting to pay off.  And don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed every moment so far.  All the highs and all the lows and everything in between – I cherish all those memories and I wouldn’t take anything back.  Not even our first apartment that was 600 square feet!  But I am so looking forward to settling down in our new home.  I’m looking forward to watching my babies grow up into little people!  To see them excel at school, watch them play sports, help them navigate friendships and heartbreak.  I’m excited to go on family vacations where everyone can buckle up on their own, eat by themselves, take care of their own bodily fluids ha ha!!!  While we are a few years off from all of that, and I’m not wishing it to come any sooner, I’m just saying that there are going to be some amazing adventures in my 30’s that I’m really looking forward to.  I’m looking forward to slowing our pace down just a little bit and enjoying all small moments.

If you asked me to turn back the clock, I wouldn’t do it.  I’m looking forward to getting older!  Not super excited about dealing with all the wrinkles ha ha but I would so much rather have wrinkles than go back to a time in my life where I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted out of life.  When you go through hard things, when you are forced into a place you know nothing of and have no choice but to be stretched in every single way, you learn to give yourself grace.  You learn how incredibly tuff you are.  You learn to show compassion, kindness, and empathy.  There is still so much I have yet to learn and I am hopeful that in ten years from now I’ll be able to come back here and tell you all the things I learned and why I’d never go back to being 30.