33

“It is always the simple things that change our lives. And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen. Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so. You feel like running, but life is on a stroll. This is how God does things.”

-Donald Miller



So I celebrated my 33rd birthday last week. I rang it in like I do all the others...with a lot of noise and ruckus. I made sure I let everyone know (for weeks...heck months) that is was coming and I even convinced myself that it was going to be bigger and better than all of the others. I think it's my way of disguising the fact that I am just getting older. In the midst of all the hoopla I never once stopped to think that I was actually turning a year older until the night of my birthday. When everything calmed down I stopped dead in my tracks to realize....."OH CRAP...I AM 33!".

Yeah, so I am a year older. So what. So I have a few more wrinkles, I walk/run a little slower. I can't drink as many beers as I used too and I sure as heck can't fit into my favorite pair of jeans like I did when I was in college. And there are the little things that annoy me (especially working on a college campus) on a daily basis. Like the fact that kids today have to play their music so loud. And everyone is in such a hurry to get somewhere. And clothes aren't made they way they used to be made (good quality). Nobody wants to take the time work for something....they want it now and I mean RIGHT now. I guess I am getting old.

But as I am a year older, I have discovered that I have noticed that I enjoy parts of life that I never used to. I actually stop to smell flowers now. Literally. I still drive fast.....but at least I use my turn signal and I am polite when I pass someone (if that is possible). I try to take the time to do one thing each week that is different for me (see a play, read a book, try a new food). I try not to judge as much or should I say...I try to give someone the benefit of the doubt more. I have mellowed quite a bit.

I laugh more, cry less. I argue less and listen more passionately. I still fall and tumble often, but I have learned that scraping your knees are ok and you just learn to pick yourself up and go. I have learned over the years that a broken heart is not hopeless. Love endures. I have watched death come and take those I love so dearly. I have seen the struggle of the world and the freedoms of many and challenge my own role in society.

It's funny sometimes. If someone were to tell me at 33 I would be analyzing the role of where I am and I what I feel at this point in my life thus far, I would have laughed. I never saw myself as such a person. But you can't help but put life in perspective at times.

Friends and family give me one heck of a time each year when my birthday rolls around because I make such a big deal about it. I guess in the end I make a deal because it's my way of bringing closure (or a celebration) to one great year and preparing for another.We never know how many of these "years" we have left.....so I like to think that rejoicing in each one is not such a bad idea.

Besides...you usually get great gifts and a yummy cake to go along with it!

JAR