So this is 29

I turned 29 yesterday.  It wasn't quite what I expected.  For many years, there has been this big build-up to my birthday, expectations, wants, needs, all colliding to make me this big ball of anticipation.  But for the last couple of years, birthdays haven't been as big of a deal for me.  It makes me feel awfully grown up to say that, I remember my dad shrugging his shoulders and proclaiming it "just another day" when I was younger, and that completely throwing me for a loop.  It's your DAY!  I would exclaim.  How could it be just another day?

Yet that's where I find myself now.  It's just another day.  My age doesn't seem to matter nearly as much anymore, now that most of the "big ones" are behind me, and now it's the decade birthdays that really seem to matter.  I did walk into some wonderful surprises at work that made me feel so blessed yet again to work with incredible people.  I am such a lucky person to have good people in my life on a daily basis.  

 

 

 

However, none of that made it "feel"  like I was officially one year older.  I'm not walking around proudly proclaiming that I have entered the last year of my 20's, although I am proud to share with those who ask.  I don't feel any different now than I did when I turned 28.  Marriage, and my time spent shaping that matters more now.  Milestones at work, and the accomplishments that I work hard for matter more now.  Cat and dog cuddles matter more now than the number of candles on any cake ever will again.  And someday, hopefully in the not too distant future, the sweet giggles of a baby or two will matter much, much more than the number I report in order to determine my age group at races.

 And this must be what it means to grow up.  To realize that "growing up" doesn't really matter unless you're filling it with things that are significant and meaningful.