Thoughts on 30

Well, I'm an old 30 year old now. Honestly, it happened so quickly and painlessly that I barely felt it..more like a small speedbump in the road than the falling-off-the-end-of-a-cliff that so many people make it out to be. But I guess its a matter of perspective and reality. Reality - we get older. Perspective - I've had an amazing run during my 20s and I'm proud to enter the "sophisticated 30s". So I was reading an old friend's blog today. ("Old" - because she too, turned 30 today and "old" because I knew her when I was only a 3rd grader, when her sweet mom was our teacher. One of the best teachers ever! We had a secret cheerleading club that sometimes met under her desk. Ah, good times, when back then "30" was 10 lifetimes away!) Anyway, she listed out some of the major events of her 20s.  Now, her list is a lot fancier and impressive than mine (I still haven't been out of the country!), but it was so much fun that I wanted to play along.  So, I listed 30 events from the past decade, again, just to keep things in perspective.  Have fun reading, and consider making your own list.  I think you'll be amazed at what happens while we're too busy to stop and take note :) [not chronological.....I'm getting old and can't possibly put this in the right order, sorry]

1. Married a wonderful man
2. Finished my bachelors degree
3. Got my first "real" job
4. Finished my masters degree
5. Became a CPA
6. Got pregnant and had Ryan
7. Barely got un-pregnant and had Seth
8. Welcomed 8 nieces and nephews to the world....so far (out of 9 total!)
9. Spent 2 weeks in my favorite city - New York!
10. Watched my favorite baseball team win the World Series
11. Took a hot air balloon ride over the Pacific Ocean
12. Bought a house, sold the house, bought another house
13. Lost my grandmother
14. Joined an amazing church and met some of the best friends on the planet
15. Learned what it was like to be married to a football coach
16. Voted in 3 presidential elections
17. Got a dog
18. Set foot in 23 states
19. Lived through 2 "100 year floods"
20. Bought 4 cars (first was a cool Monte Carlo, last was a minivan..hmmmmmm.)
21. Started teaching college business classes
22. Learned a LOT about cooking, home repair/remodeling, yardwork, photography
23. Read approximately 270 books
24. Went to my first NFL game ever (saw Brett Favre...he smiled at me...or in my general direction....or maybe he was squinting in the stadium lights)
25. Only got ONE speeding ticket
26. Saw our country attacked by terrorists
27. "Got" 4 new sisters-in law and 2 new brothers-in-law
28. Potty-trained a boy
29. Attended approx 120 college or high school football games (times 1 hot dog each)
30. Watched my husband acheive a lifelong dream of becoming a head coach

Ok, some are huge...others are silly....but each adds a splash of color to the larger picture of my last decade. I'm SO thankful to have reached my 30th birthday. I'm so thankful for everyone that God has written into my life.  I'm so thankful for everything He is teaching me through the HUGE things and the SILLY things. Whatever your age, take a minute to reflect in the correct perspective and throw in a dose of reality, will ya?