It's Nice to See Your Face Again

    So. Thirty. I suppose I'm to be reflective, appraising the previous years of my life. I could be dreading that number, feeling as if I should be as "old" as some who are younger have told me or that I am "young" as those who are older have told me. In my book, age is relative-- not about some number that you achieve every year on the day of your birth.
    That being said, I have known for a year now that today I would turn "Thirty." Yes, yes-- we can forego the "Very good, you know that thirty comes after twenty-nine" jibes. I'm talking about the number "30" lingering in the back of my mind, ever present, taunting my enjoyment of the last year of my twenties. Have I really cared? Maybe. I don't feel older. I'm as young as I've ever been. Attitude has more to do with age than a number. The "How old are you?" quiz on Facebook says I'm nine. My Wii Fit tells me I vary between 20 and 22. See? Obviously I'm not thirty.
    A year ago, the only reason the last year of my twenties bothered me was that someone told me "It's nice to see your face again." This does bear some explanation, but keep in mind the person who said this was quite sincere and meant well. I've had three babies in four years, two of them c-sections. I question this insanity more than I question the number thirty. I love my babies and wouldn't part with any one of them for anything, EVER, but they were not kind to my body-- weight has been a ridiculous issue this bull-headed person has had a nasty battle with. So as I turned twenty-nine, I gave myself the goal to be fit by thirty. Over the last months, my goal stayed within sight. Then the aforementioned person patted my cheek and said "It's nice to see your face again. You're getting slim." Well, uh... thanks? Gees, was this person saying that my face had disappeared amidst pregnancies and babies? No, I won't go there (yes, this is denial).
    But now, as I sit here wearing pants I wore when I was twenty-one, the last epic milestone of age (I suppose), it's nice to just say to thirty, "It's nice to see your face again." So put that in your pipe and smoke it. That's how I feel about thirty.

Snippets

My children love their 'people' and thoroughly enjoyed a weekend full of their favorites. I love that my children feel comfortable around people regardless of age and I feel blessed to know that these people influence my children in so many positive ways. I have to admit though, that I'm also very appreciative of a church with a sense of humor. Evelynn was in her talkative element this year at the church retreat so here are a few of her conversational snippets. I wish I could remember more of them... I might add more as I they make themselves known.

#1. Paul Y. to Evelynn: Who made the moon?
      Evelynn: God did.
      Paul Y.: Who made the earth?
      Evelynn: The other god did.

#2. Evelynn to Christian K. (13) after watching Sponge Bob on his iPod: Do you have Elmo on here?

#3. Evelynn to me about sleeping on a bunk bed: There's no monsters in here. I will be just fine. Don't worry, Mom.

#4. Evelynn giving advice to Krista K.: Do you know what you do with toilet paper? You scratch your booty with it. If your nose itches, you can scratch it with toilet paper, too. But you never use the same piece of toilet paper.

Who knows, this might be her future in toilet paper uses.