A Quarter of a Century Old

Today is my birthday and I am now 25.
Sometimes I don't feel very old, nor mature. Sometimes I still think I'm 17. However, I know I'm not because of all the experience I've had, have lived through, and have shoved upon me.

I was blessed to talk to one of the best friends of my entire life tonight. A dear, dear friend that goes way back with me. Talking to her made me miss being a preteen, sitting in her pink room, talking about boys, our parents and what it will be like to grow up. Some days I miss those days. Some days I miss those days a lot.
I find it amazing how we wish away our childhood just to reach a certain age when really our childhood is the shortest and most fleeting. We complain about having to go to school when that is really our only worry. That and chores. But we were free to play, to explore, to do nothing and feel like we were doing everything. To stay the night at our friends and not have to worry about who was watching the baby or if I paid the bill that's due on Monday.
I remember being 13, 15, 16 and always reaching for the next birthday. I wanted to have my own car, my own home, to be married and have babies. And, trust me, I am beyond blessed to have all of those, but the years, the years keep going faster and faster.
I'm 25. I feel like I just skipped 23 and 24.
And the quickness of the years keep reminding me with their threatening page turning on the Calenders.
My daughter's first birthday is just 11 days away. Eleven days.
She's standing and squatting, crawling and coasting, babbling and laughing. It's so crazy how fast they grow.
I tried really hard to hold on to time during the first 6 months, but these last six just slipped through my hands. I tried not to push time by wishing for the next milestone but sometimes it was hard not to. When she wasn't mobile but would become frustrated because she couldn't reach something. When she could crawl but cried cause she could not stand. Now she can stands but only coasts, and I am not wishing for the walking just quite yet. I know it will come too fast and she'll be the destructor of all the household things that I once loved.

I am so very grateful to be 25. I have an incredible, fantastic husband, a beautiful and charming daughter, a loving and irreplaceable family, amazing and the sweetest friends. I am blessed to not want for anything, a roof over my head and place to call home, a car that works, food in my belly, and most importantly a God who loves me.

I am blessed.

I was asked tonight if there is something that I would like to do before I turn 26. Well, here is a beginning of a list for before I turn 30.

1. (maybe, I'm pretty sure) have more babies.
2. ride and own my own motorcycle.
3. take a really nice vacation. Out of the midwest.
4. be debt free.
5. teach, make, and sell pottery.

That's a good start. Maybe I'll add on as I think of them.


Thank you all for this wonderful birthday.
It's been the best so far.
Here's to another 25 (x2 -maybe 3).