It's my 26th birthday today, and I've spent some time reflecting on the past year. Sometimes when you look back on a year, it seems to have gone by so fast, yet so slow at the same time. Somehow things feel like a lifetime ago and like yesterday at the same time. I will definitely not forget how I rang in 25 with two buck chuck and Jameson followed by the worst headache ever and days of lingering nausea. But 25 has been great; met with new decisions, beliefs and opinions all shaped by different people and different experiences. It seems I've finally gotten to the point where I am able to freely create and maintain the life that makes me the happiest, that I'm able to "design" my life for me and my family. I've felt more than ever like I'm beginning to become the person I will be for the rest of my life. We all go through our 20s trying to discover ourselves, often with relationships and education, jobs and homes. I've had another blissful year with my husband, full of laughter, understanding, and love. Everyday Olive does something that makes me laugh and love her even more. Mike always says that if we could love a dog this much, imagine how much we'll love our children. This past year I started my nursing program, with the belief that it will be the one thing left to finish before I get my life to where I truly want it to be. I've learned that nursing is the best fit for me and it allows me to to channel my sometimes inconvenient emotions. Where I often care or dwell on things that don't matter, I'm able to instead be a compassionate and understanding nurse. I do my best to no longer wait for my life to "start", is if having everything where I want it to be will somehow bring about this inner peace and calm, a perfect place where my house is always clean, the laundry is always done and I look stylish and put together everyday. Instead remembering to enjoy and appreciate everyday. To live in the now instead of in the future. Here's to 26.
