In Anticipation...

In anticipation of turning the big 3-0 in 15 days, and in anticipation of quite a few more blog posts reveling in this fact, I thought it was about time to reflect on the past 30 years of my life.

No, this isn't a memoir of any sorts, and believe me, I know that there is a whole lot of life still in store for me, but the New Year has reminded me that life is precious and that we must be thankful for all that we have in life: the good, the bad, the hilarious, and even the unplanned.

There is a country song that recounts a great line, "Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers." While God, yes, answers a lot of prayers, many of them that went unanswered have led me to where I am today.

I remember crying myself to sleep over some losers (I can say that because I dated them) that I dated or pined over in high school. Man! What a waste of tears, time, and prayers. I wish I would have listened to my Mom sooner.....

That leads me to the next man in my life - my dear hubby, Dan. You see, Dan came from New York to attend UF. If he would have followed his first dream to become a doctor, we would have probably never met that fateful night at the Pimp and Ho Party. I was a high-class ho by the way.

A party that I didn't want to attend - but a friend of mine begged me to attend. A friend that I met during my first job out of college - one that wasn't planned or wanted, but out of necessity....a receptionist. I used to joke that I would hang my Magna Cum Laude degree over the copy machine.

If it weren't for that amazing man, Dan, than we wouldn't have the next greatest thing in our life - Ms. Riley Belle. You see, after suffering a miscarriage, the furthest thing from your mind is the next child in your life. Doctors insist, "You're young, you'll have another baby," when all you want to scream to them is, "But I wanted this one." I am thankful to have been the Mom to our little angel baby, even for a brief time, and thankful that through experiences like that, it makes you really appreciate life.

Without getting too sappy, the past thirty years have also brought a great deal of fun too. I have the learned the meaning of a true friend and realize that it's not the quantity in life, but the quality. I have realized that sometimes your greatest idea doesn't always work out as planned and that adapting to life is a real skill. I know that it is better to just go ahead and cry because sometimes it feels really good to let it go. The same goes for laughing so hard that you snort and/or pee your pants. And, I also know that no one can stand up better for yourself than you.

I look forward to celebrating my 30th birthday on a big cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with a group of people who love me when I am a crazy, psycho lady who takes their kid to the doctor for a heat rash. And yes, I am working on that too.