I turned forty year before last. FORTY! When I was younger, I thought 40-year old women were ridiculous. Seriously, I did! They would always say ‘Have a blessed day’ (#weird), they were forever talking about ‘back in their day … how these young kids have it so good these days’ telling stories about their old-time remedies or old wives tales. And they were always listening with big eyes while nodding their heads and saying ‘Uhh huh’ like they absolutely connected with exactly what I was saying.
Okay, wait. Really? Couldn’t they have just said ‘have a good day’ or admitted things have changed and that they need to get with the times? And there is seriously no way those bug-eyed 40-year olds understood exactly what I was saying. No way. It was seriously irritating to me at the time!
Now I’m a grown woman myself and guess what? Yep. I say ‘have a blessed day’ and I talk about how these young kids today have it so good while I tell stories about ‘back in my day…’ and I often find myself listening to my son’s friends, nodding and ‘Uhh huh-ing’ as I connect with exactly what they’re saying with my bug-eyed stare! {insert palm to forehead emoji here}
But how did that happen? When did I cross the barrier from thinking ‘those women’ were weird to becoming one of them?! Seriously! I can’t put my finger on how it happened but I do know this:
- I have helped my husband raise up a hard-working, compassionate, considerate, respectful, kind, responsible 20-year old son … he’s not perfectly all together yet but he is an upstanding, contributing citizen of this world so we did some things right!
- I am helping my husband raise up two beautiful, smart daughters. The older of whom is very self-disciplined, structured, organized and self-motivated. The younger of whom is empathetic, spiritually gifted, bubbly and loving. We’re not done raising our girls yet, which I fully recognize, however, they are always a joy to be around and though raising daughters is so vastly different from raising a son, so far so good!
- My husband and I have been together long enough now to know that turbulence is going to happen and as long as we lean in to each other and rely on God to guide our paths, we will be okay! An abundance of grace and forgiveness toward each other doesn’t hurt either, just saying!
- I’ve been an employee at seven different companies in the last 25 years and I know what it takes … from firsthand experience, a little higher education, and some valuable coachable moments … to be who you need to be in order to not only survive but to thrive in the world today!
- We own and operate two entrepreneurial businesses and we are figuring out what it takes to grow and sustain them! There have been many lessons, some harsher than others, learned during our journeys as business owners, however, the win is in being open to learn those lessons along the way!
- I’ve had a myriad of friends enter … and some leave … my life over the past 40+ years. I truly realize the impact that your ‘tribe’ has on your life and how important it is to surround yourself with like-minded friends who will laugh and cry with you at all the appropriate moments!
So I guess somewhere between being the 19-year old who thought she had it all figured out to the 41-year old who realizes she still has a lot to learn, I became ‘one of those’ women. And I learned I’m comfortable with that!
Love this!