44 and counting

live your life and FORGET your age
Each year that passes I get a little bit older, a little bit wiser and a little bit stronger.  44 may have looked better but it never felt better.

As I sit here and reflect on my trip around the sun this year I realize how much of a growth year this has been for me.  43 was a roller coaster year with just as many UPS as downs.  personally i struggled with bouts of depression, a heart break, seeing my baby girl off to Indiana, watching from a distance as she got married and things as trivial as learning to swipe right and left (blog on that coming soon). 
I've watched mostly from afar as my family has had to deal with cancer again and it's affect on each of them.

911 Stair climb

i've realized not everyone is meant to continue their part in your journey and struggled to release them and some people were easy to release.  As each year goes by I realize its ok to be a little selfish, it's ok to respectfully decline an invitation somewhere, it's ok to say no I'm busy doing absolutely nothing but recouping today.  I had such a hard time saying this in the past because i'm a pleaser, i want everyone to be happy but i forgot about making myself happy in that process.  so now i make time for me, i've gone skiing ALONE, i've gone to movies ALONE, i've gone to a brewery ALONE and honestly i ENJOY it just as much as if i had gone with someone.

i also don't want to discredit all the UPS i had this year.  i moved and had to find a new gym and was incredibly sad and scared that i wouldn't find my new home but now I have two places to call home.  i took my baby girl skiing for the first time, i got to go to Colorado and ski, take an amazing trip to Montana/Wyoming but the thing that stands out the best was being able to wake up Christmas morning with my babies and my family.  It was the first time that has happened since my kids have been born.  It will be a memory I will cherish forever because for me its the experience and the memories made along the way, no amount of money can take it's place.
1st Christmas at home since Cam and Trey were born
aNd as 44 comes CrEePiNg in on me I don't feel 44 at all.  i have an old soul with a gypsy spirit.  i'm always on the quest for the next adventure, growing, adding new things to my life, experiencing new things and never turning down an opportunity that comes my way.

If there is anything you can take from my experiences, take this, don't be defined by what is happening to you in your life.  Take those experiences and grow from them. 
 
PEACE, LOVE & HAPPINESS!
dawn


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