Reflection.\u00a0Life. \u00a0Reflecting on life…I find myself doing that as I have a few more days before I turn 40.\u00a040!\u00a0 40!\u00a0 How can that be?\u00a0 The days of traveling softball, doing gymnastics at The Community Center, swimming in the pool during the summers while mom was working, playing at Elisha\u2019s house, changing for gym class at Kilmer while keeping a low profile during gym, roaming the halls of Madison between classes; all seems like yesterday.\u00a0 A lot has certainly happened since that time.\u00a0I graduated high school, graduated college, got my first job, got my second job (going on 16 years there) and worked my way up the ranks there. During this time, I also fell in love, got married, had three beautiful girls, bought a condo, sold a condo, bought a house.<\/p>\n
Justin and I have been together nearly half our lives.\u00a0 I was 20 when we started dating.\u00a0 Two decades!\u00a0We have traveled together\u2026.California, New York, South Carolina, West Virginia, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, North Carolina Mexico, Nevis, Dominican Republic, Greece, Turks and Caicos, Sweden. I\u2019ve traveled to Spain with my mom and Israel and London by myself as well during this time.<\/p>\n
Our early 20\u2019s were busy with getting jobs and putting our best foot forward each day.\u00a0 Evenings were spent at the gym or at happy hours.\u00a0A few years after being in the work force, we, like many of our friends, purchased our first home.\u00a0 Bars and night clubs were already behind us (yet they were truly never a thing) and spending times letting loose on the weekend with friends occurred more frequently at our homes.\u00a0 We were busy\u2026weekend mornings we slept in\u2026a must when not going to bed until way after midnight.\u00a0 Going to the gym mid-day on weekends was the norm and our day would start after a late lunch.\u00a0 Not sure what we did each weekend, but I can tell you that even in my 20\u2019s responsibility filled a lot of our to-do list on the weekends (grocery shopping in person at Giant, my Sunday cleaning \u201critual\u201d, and a monthly deep clean of our condo.\u00a0We had fun though and we were lazy. Turning on the T.V. daily was a norm \u2013 eating dinner in front of the T.V at the coffee table also a fairly regular occurrence.<\/p>\n
Life was good in our 20\u2019s.\u00a0After being a couple for close to 8 years, Justin and I got married when I was 29 and he was 28.\u00a0 The years surrounding our sacrament of marriage were filled with attending many weddings.\u00a0 Then I turned 30 along with Justin and most all our friends!<\/p>\n
30\u2019s were the decades of babies!!\u00a0 And we had our share\u20263 of them in the course of two years!\u00a0 The baby phase was amazing.\u00a0 Conversations with friends paused for quite a few years truthfully but I was so present when the girls were babies and toddlers.\u00a0 Busy, yes of course, but present!\u00a0 During the girls\u2019 early years, we moved out of our condo, moved in with my parents, bought a house in a wonderful neighborhood, and welcomed four au pairs into our family.<\/p>\n
Then with a blink of the eye, we no longer had an au pair, we had two 8 year-olds, a 6 year-old, and I was turning 40!\u00a0 Life!\u00a0 I\u2019m in my 40\u2019s!\u00a0 Truthfully, I think a lot of that disbelief is because I feel great and don\u2019t look terribly different than I did at 16\u2026yes, older\u2026some wrinkles, but not a ton.\u00a0 And I am in great shape!!\u00a0 While I have categorized my life as busy at every stage of my life, in large due to my Type A personality, I am grateful for this next chapter.\u00a0 Grateful to be turning 40.\u00a0 Grateful to be the one to get my girls ready for school and be there when they get home in the afternoon.\u00a0 Grateful to have saved enough money to finally embark on our home renovation.\u00a0Grateful for a job that allows me to work largely at home. Grateful for kids who despite fighting truly love each other.\u00a0 Grateful for a supportive and loving husband. Grateful for a life partner to dream with and turn our dreams into reality.\u00a0 Truly grateful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reflection.\u00a0Life. \u00a0Reflecting on life…I find myself doing that as I have a few more days before I turn 40.\u00a040!\u00a0 40!\u00a0 How can that be?\u00a0 The days of traveling softball, doing gymnastics at The Community Center, swimming in the pool during … Continue reading