two niner

disclaimer: I started this as a simple quick post. and then it just kept going. and going and going.
So I wrote it out for ME.....but you can read it too, if you have too much time on your hands, a snack to enjoy, and something to keep you hydrated.


Short version: today is my birthday.  I like being outside. 29 is going to be awesome.


me. a few weeks back when charly and I were headed up up up the mountain to escape the inversion.

and she has officially entered her 30th year.

she being me.

29 years old.

whoa.

how. 

what?!

I am actually, really, the more I think about it........EXCITED! 

This is going to be a good year....I know it.

28 was a turning point for me.

But first, let's go back.

waaaaaaay back.

19. 

I was married. 

NINETEEN! 

The hardest part about being so young (NINETEEN!!!) when you get married, is that you are most definitely, for sure, in no way, grown up yet. 

Oh, you THINK you are.....but you are not. 

I was not. 

So while trying to adjust to newly wedded bliss and modern housewifery, full time school and work......you are still trying to grow up. 

That's aLOT going on at once.

Oh, and remember how you are 19?

You start to maybe, kinda, sorta, get a grasp on your early 20s, and then BAM!! 

At 22 you have a beautiful, perfect, long-lashed baby boy. 

New motherhood is a challenge at any age, but 22! 

You are still working on YOU! 

Early and mid-twenties flash by in a frenzy of diapers and wipes and tickling of toes...

....because now a lovely little curly headed girl has joined the family.

You will one day wake up and realize that you never quite finished that whole "growing up" thing--you were too busy birthing babies and helping them take their own first steps.

What do you like? What makes you, you?

Being a mother is your absolute favorite thing in the entire world. 

In the UNIVERSE! 

It is the bestest of the best.

But it does not define you.

You start to try things out. 

Test the waters. 

What are the other mothers doing?

You try your hand at scrapbooking. HA! that didn't last long.

You dabble in this and that, motherly hobbies that fizzle out in days. 

You are lost. 

You care too much about what others think,
and don't think enough for yourself. 

And then one day, it clicks.
Without searching or asking or watching what the others are doing.

You decide to take your usual run to a trail.
You leap over.
Dodge under.
Your feet are quick.
You fall.
Get back up.
THIS is what you've been missing.
Outside. 
Simple as that.
Nothing you could have found in Super Mom Magazine,
and nothing Oprah told you to do.

Outside.

Something you grew up with,
but for some reason,
these last few years you forgot.
Forgot how wonderful it is to just be out.

And from there on out, you are good to go.
It's you! You're back!
You re-prioritize.
You get your family outside more.
Make sure you all get good and dirty.
Often.
You simply came back to what you liked growing up.
Nothing new, or trendy.....it was just YOU.

I am excited for what this new year will bring for me.
What will 29 have in store?
Hands in the dirt.
Climbs up mountains.
Camping under stars.
Blisters on our feet, scuffs on our knees.
Lakes. Rivers. Streams.
Bugs and Birds.
Eating food we planted and grew.
Teaching my Littles about all these things, and how important they are to me.

And most importantly, continuing to sift out those unimportant things in my life, and focus on all of the (MANY!) little things I love, and that make me, me.

***

WOW. Did we get just a little cheesy? Please refer to last week's post on actual cheese if you feel like you are in the mood, thanks to this post.

Where did all this come from? I think maybe my parents found me in the woods.

Last year of my 20s....let's go!