Turning 40

I turn 40 years old today. It got me to thinking about other major birthdays. I spent my 18th birthday on my first day of college at Clemson. I was lost most of the day and completely overwhelmed with being away from home. It was not a pleasant day, lost in the chaos of a new life.
I spent my 20's working as a paramedic. I experienced, saw and did things that most people never dream of. It was where I cut my teeth in medicine, and it made me a better person. I was married and birthed 2 children. I fell in love with mother/baby care and this is what propelled me to go to nursing school.
Ironically, my 30th birthday was spent in an auditorium for my first day of nursing school. At the time, I thought I was too old to go back to college. One day, I had decided that I would be 32 in two years. I could be 32 and nurse, or 32 and still not a nurse. Every single day, I am grateful that I went back to school to enter into this profession. My 30's were quite turbulent at times. I opened myself up to deal with much of the baggage I carried around with me. Our family struggled a great deal during this decade. I had 2 more children. Our marriage struggled , our finances struggled through unemployment, our children struggled in school. We managed to press on and go from surviving to thriving. We built our dream house in the country, found great jobs and found our tribe of true friends.
This summer has been filled with angst about this birthday. I was going to loose 20 pounds to prepare for it. I think I gained 5. I was going to get another tattoo, I never got around to it. Yet, now, here it is. Surprisingly, I have a new sense of peace. We just took the family on a most amazing trip to Texas. It was a trip filled with many blessings and much beauty. My husband joined the ranks of the employed with a great job right here in Gilbert. I find myself on the cusp of some very interesting things professionally. I look around me and see real, authentic, loving relationships. I see, now, that the struggled of my 30's has left me looking forward to a decade with a sense of accomplishment and security in knowing that I have done so much of the work to prepare myself for whatever is to come. All of that struggle and work was worth it, every bit.
Bring on the next decade!!