another year older...

i am another year older. another year wiser. another year stronger.

and i am glad i'm another year older. am i the only one who gets reflective around my birthday(s)?

the weekend before thankgsgiving i had the chance to think about my age and place in life.

whitney and i went to target. as we were walking out i saw a family heading in. brought back memories, i wanted to laugh so bad. the dad was walking a little ahead of the family, only because he was taller and walked faster (or so i choose to believe) and looked like he would rather be anyplace else. the mom was pushing a cart into the store holding a baby down in the child seat so he wouldn't stand up. another child was hanging off the edge of the cart and two elementary age children were walking with her with one saying, "mom, can i have, can i have..."

i was walking out of the store with whitney holding the keys (because she drives us everywhere) carrying the bag with our four purchases, my bunch of broccoli for broccoli slaw and saline solution and her two birthday gifts for friends that she paid for.

i have loved every stage of my kids lives; babies to teenagers. every stage was precious. from poopy diapers and sleepless nights to elementary age missing two front teeth to the awkward middle school years with their little round baby fat faces and know it all attitudes to high school activities and first dates and heartbreaks and more sleepless nights.

i love the adult children stage. my kids are awesome. not for anything they do or have done. not for their amazing accomplishments at young ages. but for who they are. for what they have learned. for how they behave. they've all screwed up. made bad decisions. but they have learned (or are learning) from them. will they ever be perfect? heck no, (they are my kids, after all). and i'm happy to turn their lives over to them, with the knowledge that though none of us are perfect, i did the very best i could, and i trust that they will continue to grow and learn knowing that i'm so proud of them i could bust.

second example, (must remember to run with headphones) running the turkey trot i was in front of two 20 year old something women on the bike path. i was not eavesdropping. i would've done anything to have not been able to hear them. but they were talking about a 42 year old woman one of them works with and a situation in her life. conversation went something like this:

"yeh, she's 42. doesn't she know how old she is?'
"i know. at some point your body is just too old for some stuff. what was she thinking"

at this point i put my 4 months of sprint training into place and ran off and left them in my dust, with my 44 years and 11 month old body. when i finished the race and looked at final results i am proud to say that in my age group the girls represented. i was 51 out 55 in the 41 - 45 year old age group. that means 51 women 41 or older outran their young butts. i really get that running is something you train for and this was most likely not the first 10 miler that the majority of the 55 women ran, while i know it was one of these 20 somethings first.

here's the thing, i bet all 55 of us know EXACTLY how old we are, and we know what our bodies are capable of. and there were many many many 20 somethings ahead of me. i'm okay with that. and you can think i'm old. just don't tell me what i'm capable of. because i can do anything. better than i could back in the day.

starting line of the turkey trot

i've quote my friend carrie here before, but it's worth repeating because it is so true.

my 44 year old marathon running tire flipping push up doing bear crawling hill sprinting child bearing calorie counting body would kick my 21 year old butt.

i kind of live quoting scriptures to myself, and this one for working out and running does push me along.

ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

so today, on my birthday, i celebrate. every milestone. every experience.

and look forward to next year.

i would love new earphones for my birthday.