This blog post is in honor of my friend Dawn, who is not on Facebook and only gets her updates on my life through my blog. Love ya, Dawn!
Last week I turned 32. And as I reflected on the last year
of my life (because, you know, I am SUCH a reflective person), I found my
thoughts wandering to things that haven’t just happened in the last year, and
people that haven’t just been in my life the last year, but to the last five,
ten, or even twenty years. And I came to this realization (about half way home
on my commute from work) that I have learned a lot about myself and about life
in 32 years. And most of what I have learned has come from my own experiences,
and my talks with people. So, here is what 32 years has taught me:
People. I have always thought I have a pretty good read on
people. I can tell when someone likes me, doesn’t like me, is distracted,
irritated, lazy, or any combo of the above. My first instinct is usually right
about people (yes, Travis, there was one exception long ago, on a bench), and I
can usually tell when things have changed as well. For a long time I took a lot
of this very personal. Now I have realized that I have some pretty amazing
friends in my life, and if someone doesn’t want to be there with us, I’m ok
with that. There are friends I see every day, every week, only every few
months, or even some I see only once every few years. I’m ok with that, but
only if you are. It’s taken me most of 32 years to come to grips with the fact
that some people are in your life for a long time, and others just a short
time. It’s the way the world works. Something else I have learned, and that I
think is so important, is that just because you have known someone a long time
does not mean you need to be close. And just because you just met someone does
not mean you can’t be close. I recently had a talk with a friend about the “history”
of a friendship and how important that is. It is important, but so is the current
give and take of the friendship. I like to surround myself with positive people
who aren’t always down on themselves or their lives. I spent this past weekend in Atlanta with two
of my oldest friends. I’ve known these girls since elementary school. We have
literally grown up together. It is so much fun to spend time talking about the
past and all the fun we had. But we also relish in talking about the future,
and where we want to go, what we want to do. We say by the river this weekend
and talked about the next few years for the 3 of us. One of us is pregnant
(please note, it is not me). That’s fun. I love watching my friends’ families
grow, and how happy it makes them. We talked about moving, either to a new
state or just a new home. We talked about expanding our travels together
internationally. We talked about going to school. We talked about everything. I
like times like this. And I like sharing those times with good people.
Travel. A lot. Especially when you are young and poor. I
traveled all through my teenage years and well into my twenties. I stayed in
hostels in Australia, motels in Alaska, camped in Colorado and Maine, and slept
on a train a few times. And I saw some amazing places in this world. Now that I
am in my thirties, vague memories of sharing a room with 8 other strangers sleeping
on bunkbeds seems less than thrilling. I’ll still camp, but there’s something
about a hot shower and a real pillow that I just can’t get away from. I still
love to travel, but now traveling has suddenly gotten a lot fancier, and
therefore a lot more expensive. Before, when I couldn’t afford to be a fancy
traveler, I did it on a shoestring budget, and made it work. And I did it ALL
THE TIME. Now I have slowed down, I have other responsibilities, and I have
other things my still limited budget has to pay for. I still love to get away,
but I find myself now trying to find a place to visit where I can lay by the
pool, instead of hiking up pyramids or onto glaciers. Dammit, I got old.
Get your tonsils out before the age of ten.
There is always room for dessert. However, if you eat it
everyday and you have my metabolism, you should probably also add 20 minutes
more to your workout.
I am not a tea drinker. At least not in the British or Texas
sense of it. I will drink it, but I much prefer herbal tea to milky tea. And if
it’s iced, I don’t understand it at all.
You don’t have to stop and enjoy the small things all the
time. But you should stop and take in the scene every once in a while. The
little minis have taught me this one. They love the littlest silliest things. They
loves walking around following the ducks and quacking at them. They like to sit
and hold their teddy bears wrapped in a blanket and rock them to sleep. They
will sit for hours and listen to nursery rhymes, and even sing a little E-I-E-I-O
if you ask nicely. They say everyone’s name except for mine, and if I ask them
to say Aunt Debs, they smile and give me an evil giggle. Fairly sure they can
say it, but they know it’s a game by now. Jessica taught them to call me Debby,
but mostly they call me Bebby. I love it! I love all the littles ones in my
life, and I love that they are reminder for the simple things in life.
Don’t procrastinate or things will build up and not get done
on time. Like this blog, which I started last week.
I’m 32 now, so that way I see it, I’m about half way to
retirement, and I really should now stop pulling the gray hairs out of my hair
line. My hairdresser was right, they do grow back, and now I have a little
patch of short gray hairs. Dammit.
Oh, and also, this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSnDJ7exSO0
