Today is a milestone birthday! I consider 35 to be a reminder that I have 5 more years of being young, and then I’ll rock out the middle-aged bracket. For fun, I went through some old pictures and found photographic evidence of my personal development across the past 35 years. (If you choose pictures from only ages that end in a 0 or a 5, you skip the entire awkward stage of junior high, as well as the awkward stage between K and 5th grade where your teeth are too big for your face and are mostly missing. I wish I had thought of this brilliance previously!)
I thought I’d walk you through my life in 5 year increments. I already did this on Fb, but my mom doesn’t check Fb and she birthed me, so you go the extra mile for your mom! Mom, you are welcome. And also, thank you!
Age 2 months: Oct. 1978. I was a tummy time rockstar!
Age 5: Aug. 1983. Back during that small window of time where Tim was shorter than me.
Age 10: Fifth grade field trip, Aug. 1988. I LOVE that massive camera dangling from my wrist!
Age 16: High school pom squad, Aug. 1994. I was SO uncoordinated! Thank God for small schools with relaxed tryouts… dancing is not my gift, but I LOVE it! I thought this was 15, but I noticed that I don’t have braces in the photo and I definitely still had braces at 15. I had just barely gotten contacts – I think that was my 15th birthday present.
Age 20: Asikawa, Hokkaido, Japan. Jun. 1998. Laura and I in the hands fountain. Ask me about this story sometime. Tomo, our Japanese guide/moral conscience was right: “Dis is NOT a very good idea!” We always hushed him and went ahead with our crazy schemes anyway.
Age 25: Skydiving, Aug. 2003. Matt asked me to marry him 2 days beforehand, just in case we died.
Age 30: Surprise birthday party, Aug. 2008 with my almost 1 year old twins!
Age 35: Birthday wake-up pounce, Aug. 2013 with my squirmy-wormy kids!
There are a few birthdays that didn’t end in a -0 or -5 that I’d like to give honorable mention:
Age 26: First married birthday! Aug. 2004. The Wayfellows went to Chicago and I finally found out why Buca di Beppo is so fabulous.
Age 32: First birthday with Nathaniel. Aug. 2010. These sweeties took me out for ice cream… my FAVORITE!
This last picture wasn’t photo-shopped AT ALL. This is exactly how I look, pretty much every day. Put together, saving the world, fans blowing my hair conveniently outward into a fluffy ‘do instead of into my face to blind me, all my bidness is still this firm and sculpted… yep this is totally realistic!
Nice trip through memory lane. Thanks for going the extra mile for me. And yes, honey, you are welcome for all that trauma I went through 35 years ago—what a wonderful gift I received that day.