Still Blooming

Today is my 30th birthday, and tomorrow is my first day back at work after a week of vacation.  My wonderful in-laws left this afternoon, and the house has been sort of cleaned in preparation for our next visitors, coming this week, and I've sort of logged in to work to catch up.  But it's my birthday and what I really want to do is reflect on this kinda big birthday, so I here I am.

I have to say that as a kid "30" sounded so old and mature, and so far off in the future.  I mean, we should be wearing silver space suits and platform moon boots by now, right?  Now that it's come it honestly feels a little anticlimactic.  Besides the big trip to Jamaica, of course.  I always thought it would be weird to turn 30, and somewhat anticipated having a hard time with it.   I've even found myself thinking about this day and how I feel about it, trying to dig deep and see if there are any hard feelings towards this new decade, and I can't find a single one.

I will say that I've been thinking a lot about the past 30 years, and the next...but before I get all Tim McGraw-y up in here, I'm actually not really sure if it has more to do with my birthday or a book I read while on vacation - Bloom, by Kelle Hampton.  The book is a memoir about when Kelle gave birth to her baby girl, who she did not know beforehand had Down syndrome.  It is a brutally honest depiction of her journey, and for me a tearjerker and life-changer.

Side note: Do not start your very first vacation away from your very first baby by reading an article about the families that lost their kids in the Newtown shooting, followed by this book.  I'm pretty sure Ryan was going to ask to trade seats on the airplane when he came back from the restroom to a sobbing wife.

Anyways, this book was so inspiring to me, and it made me look at my own life and see how fantastically blessed I am.  And not only by the countless wonderful things that have happened along the way, but also by the many hard times I faced that became a beautiful part of my broken road.

At 30 years old I have it darn good.  I know that hard times are yet to be faced, and to be perfectly honest, typing that takes my breath away a little bit and squeezes at my heart, because the unknown is a little bit terrifying.  I also know that there will be some amazing times ahead, but even better than that I have faith that any challenges we face we'll get through.  The light at the end of the tunnel will appear, and another piece to my road will be put into place.

I cannot wait for my next 30 to begin, and hopefully another 30 after that.  Life is beautiful.

- K