I’m not the type of person who gets concerned about birthdays. I’ve always liked my birthday and getting older doesn’t really bother me.
But it’s also not lost on me that I’m having a very solidly-in-your-30’s birthday and I can’t help but compare it to early 20’s birthdays.
For example: Saturday I had a birthday party for me, an adult, which consisted of 9 kids and a newborn. It started at 5 and everyone was cleared out by 9. The kitchen was clean and two loads of dishes were done, all the food was put away and we were in bed, face washed, pajamas on by 10:30. Items left at our home: a baby shoe, a sippy cup and my dad’s cellphone.
I didn’t have too many wild parties in my 20’s (after all I was already a mom by 23) but we can go ahead and say that this was a departure from a typical 20’s birthday party.
As if that wasn’t enough, I’m mildly embarrassed but also bizarrely excited about my birthday present: A juicer. The I’m-old-now hits just keep coming, because I actually RESEARCHED said juicer.
Next I’ll want a Fitbit.
Oh wait.
But there’s a couple of things… Disclaimers? Explanations? I feel compelled to address:
- I told a friend I was excited about my new present coming and she asked me if I was going to be one of those “weird juicer people”. I guess this goes back to the food being personal thing. So, uh… no. I don’t plan on going on a fast or extolling the virtues of juice or anything like that if that is what it means to be a “weird juicer”. I’m not an expert on health and I really don’t want to pretend to be. I do plan to share an occasional juice recipe (got one already) however, I still have lots of other interests and subjects to talk and write about so I hope this at least keeps me out of the “weird” category.
- I’m not having any more kids. I swear it’s related just hear me out.
For the past 10 years my body has been only kinda mine (and it’s still only kind of mine because I’m breastfeeding). But basically for 10 years I’ve been pregnant, postpartum, or planning on having another kid in the future… and as we all know pregnancy does some weird stuff to your body. So, I do feel that, tied in with the birthday, I’m reclaiming my body a little bit. I see now why many mothers get into health and fitness after they are finished having kids… it’s nice to have your body back. That being said the closest I’ve come to “fitness” is calling the gym to cancel our long-neglected membership and eating that cake so I’m not saying I’m doing that, I’m just saying I get it.
Sunday (my actual birthday) was pretty low-key spending time with family and even *gasp* some alone time for me. Overall, it was really a lovely you’re-old-now birthday. I’m excited for this year. I’m hoping to continue the path I started in January of being more focused on the people and things that make me happy. More time with family and friends, writing on this blog, and finding a new rhythm that keeps our family happy. And I think I’m off to a pretty good start.
