Mamas & Babies

You're HOW OLD?!?!?!

I hear all the comments in your heads "She thinks 30 is old-wait till she hits __" Well, hey-this is my first time being in my 30's, and just like you felt, the thought running through my head is "Wow. 30." Not that I feel exceptionally old. I'm not having nostalgia for my early 20's, nor am I hiding myself under a rock. I am, however, feeling a bit of shell shock, if I may be honest. No more 20 something. Now it's 30 something.

Quite honestly though, I've felt essentially ageless for the last decade, so it's more hearing myself say my age than actually living it that resonates throughout. I wasn't out there, living up my early 20's. I spent my 21st year being pregnant with my beautiful Hannah. I've been raising 2 (and now my wonderful 3rd) child at the age most people are still figuring out what their favorite mixed drink is. I've been through the warm ups of empty nest syndrome-seeing Hannah off to preschool was such mixed emotions. I've now seen them get even bigger. So really, while everyone else is just now starting to "buckle down" and start their families, here I am, raising kids well beyond the age of my peers, and having Thomas is like having my "bonus baby" I honestly, truly, am so thankful for little toes & baby sneezes, and those grins that leave me grinning as I write this just to think of them.


The differences in the world from my 20th birthday to my 30th is huge, also. Pagers were what people carried-cell phones were for yuppies & their very pompous children. CD's were still trying to find their way past the mixed tapes. We were excited when the channel 99 appeared, making the TV Guide essentially obsolete. HBO and Showtime had 1 channel, and shows like Sex & The City were so risque it was required to be on HBO late night-not as a mid afternoon show during the weekend. AOL was still passing out cd's like mad. Hearing that dial tone as you launched into the internet was the norm. Now, when I click on my internet, I get agitated when it takes longer than the usual 2 second delay to open the browser! What was once "killer graphics" are now sooooo not cool.

We didn't have to take our shoes off for the airport security. We felt safe. We knew that, although bad existed, our nation was going to take care of it. Our big worry was whether or not Clinton really did inhale. We didn't question it. It just was. We were-IT. Big, bad U-S-of-A. Now we even question our loyalties. I can honestly say that the last few times we've had fireworks, I've had to question my own patriotism. (Hey, I'm giving honesty here).

So yes, 30 is big. 30 is huge. What will this next decade hold for me? I don't necessarily feel "wiser" from 10 years ago, but I feel more at peace with myself. "I yam what I yam and that's all I yam." (Thank you, Popeye)