29

Whew! One more year until I hit 30. Or... 50 more minutes. What's been new this year? Steven and I spent an amazing 1st/3rd Anniversary in Montreal in August. We spent Christmas in Mexico with my parents and relatives. Winter was cold. I commited to and succeeded in losing the last 10 pounds of "baby weight" and have been running faster than I ever have before. Our son has turned into a little person (a mini Stemily, I might say) and delights us every single day.

 

 

 I don't have a lot of major events for this year, so I am going to lead into my thirtieth year with a countdown.

 

Top 10 Reasons I Know I'm Getting Old

 

10. I have aches and pains.

I have aches and pains, sometimes persistent, in my back, feet, and now jaw. I’ve been mostly treated, but feel like I'm adult enough now that things will just hurt... forever.

9. Along the same lines as #10, I sometimes groan when I stand up,

as is this is a difficult task. Meanwhile, my son runs everywhere and practically leaps when going from sitting to standing, always ready to jump into the next bit of action.

8. Even more embarrassingly, I sometimes belch unexpectedly or otherwise hear sounds come out of my body that I did not plan.

I always found this quality embarrassing in other people, and though it was a lack of social awareness that they let such things slip. Maybe it is, or maybe some functions are just less controlled the older you get. Either way, this is a problem.

7. I worry. A lot. Everything from discovering a dead body while on a run to becoming a dead body while on a run, and every sickness, accident, or other unfortunate event you can imagine happening to yourself or your loved ones. I haven't reached the worry level of my mother (yet), but the older I get, the more there seems to be to lose.

6. Speaking of my mother, I am kind of turning into her. When I was young, two things I hated hearing were "be careful," (because it was said a million times a day, and inevitably would be the retrospective caution after some bout of clumsiness) and "be nice" (once again, said a million times and day and frustratingly a difficult habit to break when the circumstances demanded it). Now I catch myself saying these exact words daily. Also, smothering my son with love every five minutes and insisting on calling him my baby for as long as I'd like.

5. I get dizzy. Being younger, it was easy(ish) to dominate roller coasters, cartwheels, free falls, and any other number of action packed thrills. Now I literally get sick to my stomach if I do a sommersault in the pool. Someone told me this has something to do with your ears and changes as you get older.

4. I am disgruntled by today’s youth. I am consistently shocked by what happens at what age these days. "When I was that age" is not an uncommon refrain.

3. I feel more comfortable covered up. Although I feel better about this since getting back in a workout routine, I am mostly leaving behind my short skirts and spaghetti straps.

2. I keep a budget. I haven't mastered sticking to it yet, but I plan out months in advance and include savings and future planning.

1. I can be stingy with money, but I am also stingy with my time. I have noticed this most with my running schedule. Previously, I could commit to working up to 8+ mile runs, no problem. This time around, I see "8 miles" on my schedule and wrinkle my nose at the 75 minutes it will take out of my Sunday when I have a whole bunch of chores to finish before I can even wrap my head around doing something fun. Of course, I feel good when I do take the time and most of the expectations I have are things I put upon myself.

 

So, there it is. Heading into 30 and feeling old. It's all relative, though, isn't it? Coming tomorrow... feeling young.