48 Years of Me – A Birthday Post!

Today I’m celebrating my 48th birthday!  I had to double check the math to be sure but it is true. I decided to share 48 years of me which obviously is a much abbreviated version but will give you a little glimpse!  I sometimes think back to the little girl I was and wonder how that spunky, confident, outgoing child got so lost for so many years.  Sitting here at 48 I’m feeling pretty darn glad I found her again.  It’s all about the climb friends!  Learning you sometimes have to conquer mountains to see the beauty on the other side and feel pain in order to grow is not always easy but I can tell you it is all worth it.

Here you go!  48 years of me!

1. Born at 1:56 am and evidently loved to mostly eat my entire first year
2. Had the cutest pigtails you ever did see and headed next door every morning for “cereal Mamaw”. We lived next door in a trailer house.
3. Traveled to Colorado on a small plane and was invited to the cockpit. Also was paid by an older lady to sit still on our ride up to Pikes Peak.  (I do not remember any of this of course!)
4. First big memory was my baby brother having major surgery. When I went to visit, my parents took me to the Houston zoo and a camel drank out of my mom’s coke
5. We moved to a new house and after hearing my dad went to high school with one of our neighbors I marched myself down, knocked on the door and said “hi, I’m Ronnie Kielman’s daughter, can I play with your kid?”.
6. Had the worst sunburn of my life and vividly remember having to stay in from recess.
7. In first grade I cut my long hair into a pixie to look like a high school girl I idolized. Too bad I didn’t learn immediately not to be a follower.
8. In 2^nd grade I seriously use to wait until a boy I liked was sipping water from a water fountain and sneak a kiss on his cheek. Forward much?
9. Got in trouble for calling a boy named Johnny Perches, Jonny Peaches on the playground. Also lied on my book list and reported I read The Hobbit (really why was this an option in 3^rd grade anyway??).  I also got the flu and missed a week of school and remember my mom moving a TV into my room so I could watch One Day at a Time.
10. Got glasses and realized the trees really did have leaves!
11. Added braces to enhance the pre-teen awkwardness but made up for it by memorizing all the presidents and getting a scratch and sniff sticker on my certificate which was gold!
12. Had my first experience with anxiety due to an honors social studies teacher and my mom didn’t believe me until she went for a parent conference and immediately removed me from her class (go mom!).
13. Awkward as hell; that’s all I can say about this year!
14. No more braces and the addition of contacts meant life was looking up! Dysfunctional family had me a little cray cray but my dad entered rehab and stopped drinking for good which will always make this year stand out to me.
15. Oh sweet high school…..I was a hot hormonal mess and do not know how my mom didn’t punch me. That is all!
16. Passed my driving test with a 74 and thought I owned the road.
17. Skipped A LOT of school but managed to pass somehow.
18. Best surprise party ever! Also thought as an “adult” I could make all my own rules.
19. Was forced to attend a junior college in my hometown (where my mom worked) and took every opportunity to point out all their inefficiencies to administrators.
20. Started the year with a huge crush on my English Lit professor and ended the year with a positive pregnancy test. (no not the professor!)
21. Became a mom to the most perfect baby girl!
22. Decided it was a good idea to marry her dad
23. Worked part time at Texas A&M while finishing up my degree at Sam Houston State.
24. Added a bouncing baby boy to my life!
25. Started a real career at Texas A&M and never dreamed I would stay to retire here!
26. Struggled with my self-confidence, my identity, my boundaries, my marriage
27. Went to group counseling and realized I didn’t really have any issues and got my crap together.
28. Got a tattoo and a divorce and a new boyfriend….it was a big year!
29. Flew for the 1^st time (that I remember) to Cancun with my amazing friend Lallah but also with two other friends whom we did not know were actually having an affair with each other. (yep, these things happen)
30. Visited New York City for the first time! A friend was working there and I spent the first day exploring the city on my own and it was the first time I can remember feeling like I was a for real adult.
31. Married my soulmate
32. Had his baby!
33. Killed my first and only deer.
34. Realized marriage is really, really just hard regardless of who you are married to and the difference is how hard you really want to work at it!
35. Buried my daddy
36. Decided I needed another baby FOR SURE
37. Somehow managed to survive with a high schooler, middle schooler, pre-schooler and a baby. It is all a big blur!
38. Spent a lot of time on the soccer and baseball fields! (I mean this pretty much was year 30-present!)
39. Found a church home and grace like I had never known down deep in my heart
40. Celebrated turning 40 with a girl’s weekend in San Antonio!
41. Truly figured out who I am and want to be and stopped trying to fit into someone else’s life.  Wow, how liberating!  It sure is a lot less exhausting just being me!
42. Finally stopped worrying about having a huge circle of friends and started concentrating on cultivating the ones who fill me up.
43. Watched my first baby graduate from college!
44. Realized parenting adults would be the hardest parenting I had to do!
45. Celebrated New Year’s Eve in times square with my bestie! It was on this trip I decided on my blog name and 6 months later I went for it!
46. Watched as my 2^nd baby was drafted and became a minor league baseball player.
47. Celebrated my 25^th year working for Texas A&M and really reflected on how far I’ve come professionally.
48. Here I sit, 48 years old! Y’all, it really just doesn’t seem possible to be “almost 50” but I’m so grateful to have yet another year.  I feel content and happy and so thankful for all the blessings, struggles and roadblocks from my past which have brought me to today.  But I also feel like there is something else on the horizon I should be looking towards.  I’m currently working to really listen to God and the direction He wants me to take next!