Just Passed a Quarter of a Century

Last week I turned 26.  Somewhere over the course of the past few months I’ve been realizing that I’m getting older.  Not old, but older.  I'm closer to the end of my 20's than the beginning now!  Apparently I’ve been driving for over 10 years now, out of high school for 8, living in AZ for 8, and working at a “real” job for almost 5 years.  These numbers are scary!   They are scary because they mean it’s been awhile since I graduated, since I lived at home, since I was a teenager.  The numbers all lead me and others to believe that I’m an adult.  I guess I assumed that by 26 I’d REALLY have it all together.  I’d know who I was, what I wanted to do with my life career-wise, and of course I’d be raking in the dough!  My life is pretty darn good, but I thought I’d have life all figured out by this point!

Sometimes, I feel like an adult.  I pay bills, I rush out of the house every morning to make it to work early, I get really, really excited about awesome cleaning products, and I even am willing to touch raw meat now instead of waiting for Mr. C to get home (that’s pretty big for me!).   I’ve realized that while money still isn’t everything, my father did have a good point when he argued that I’d care about it more than I did when I was arguing that happiness was the only thing that mattered in life.  I don’t have much room in my life for people who aren’t positive influences or those who don’t make me genuinely happy.  I’ve realized that feeling guilty doesn’t get anyone anywhere.  What’s done is done, and all that matters is what you do from here on out. I’m happier than I’ve been, probably because I’ve figured out so much about myself.  I still don’t have a clue about a million things, but I do know what’s important to me, and I fight for it.  That’s the wisdom I’ve acquired in my 26 years.

There are other times when I, and others, doubt that I’m really an adult or capable of thinking rationally.  I still think sprinkles are one of the best creations EVER.  Disneyland is still, and will always be, the happiest and most amazing place on earth and I have not yet grown out of running around like a little kid when I get there.  It’s simply not possible for me to not act like an excited six year old when I see Mickey.  If I thought people would show up, I’d totally have a birthday party at Build-A-Bear or As You Wish.  I am most definitely afraid of the dark.  And sharks.  Just thinking about being in shark-infested waters in the dark is enough to make me want to climb under my desk and hide (with the lights on of course).   My favorite part about eating at Bennihana is not the food, but really when they arrange the veggies, fill the stack with water, and make train sounds while flashing the lights.  In fact, there may be more things that point to me NOT being an adult than the ones that do.

Growing up has its perks, however there are days I’d love to be 6 again and my biggest worry to be that I couldn’t find my purple crayon or what flavor ice cream I was going to pick.  Some days my worries are purple-crayon sized, and I love those days.  In general though, as we grow up we have a lot on our minds, and a lot of legitimate worries, as well as a bunch of irrational worries.  I’m not sure that anyone has it together, although those 90 year -old people seem to do a good job acting like they’ve figured life out. 

I’ve always been lucky to have family and friends who made me feel extra special on my birthday.  Whether it’s a phone call, the familiar handwriting on a piece of birthday mail, or a thoughtful surprise, my birthdays seem to be very full of love.  This means of course that every year I expect the day to be amazing!  It seems that every year is better than the one before so this is working out pretty well for me.

This year I spent my birthday with my wonderful husband and parents.  It’s been quite awhile since I’ve seen my parents on my birthday, although my dad makes a point to call me on the morning of my birthday and sing to me in his not-so-amazing voice.  He has done this without fail for as long as I can remember, waking me up with the singing when I lived at home.  This year I got the song in person once again.  My mother’s card actually made me tear up (which is pretty hard to do to me), and Coconut and Oreo both got me cards as well, strategically placed near my makeup so I’d discover them that morning. 

The day began very well.  We had doughnuts for breakfast.  Mine had sprinkles (heart sprinkles) and it was crazy good.  It was the beginning to a great day.  If I’m ever eating a donut at 9am on a Friday I assume it’s going to be a pretty relaxing day. 

The four of us drove to Sedona, one of my favorite places.  The weather was amazing and it just felt like the beginning of fall.  We started out at Tlaquepaque, a very cute area with artsy shops and restaurants.  The grounds are beautiful, with bright flowers, old walls covered with ivy, and sculptures nestled in the trees and between buildings.  Unfortunately I enjoyed the beauty so much that I may have forgotten to take photos!  On the car ride down, we taught my parents to pronounce Tlaquepaque which we soon regretted because they just kept saying it for the fun of it.  We had lunch at the Oak Creek  Brewery and Grill on the patio and enjoyed the breeze and the amazing food.  At the end of our meal, our server brought me the most delicious apple crisp (sorry, no picture again!) which of course was homemade and topped with homemade vanilla bean ice cream with a lit candle.  It was simply perfect.

On the way to the car we walked by a fountain surrounded by flowers and spotted the biggest butterfly I’ve seen in years.  I then proceeded to take a million photos.

After lunch we drove down 89A to a spot Mr. C and I found last time.  It took awhile to get there but was so worth it.  It’s a spot a bit off the road, and with a bit of walking you run right into a beautiful creek.  The water was a lot higher than the last time but we still enjoyed the sound of the creek while we wandered around.  We saw minnows and water bugs and even some raspberries.  It was so nice out and so peaceful to just watch the water.

We shopped a bit downtown before boarding the trolley right after it began raining.   I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE rain so this was just great.  I’m not sure what I was expecting from the trolley ride but it was even better than I expected.  It was so nice to just sit and enjoy the scenery while learning a bit of history I wouldn’t have known otherwise.  The trolley drove outside of town and stopped for a couple photo ops.

Afterwards we headed out of town, but not before stopping at the Chapel of the Holy Cross.  I’ve been here before (thanks to a wonderful friend who knows all things Sedona) but my parents hadn’t so I was excited to take them.  The chapel is built into the rocks and offers pretty great views at the top. 

I most definitely slacked on photos for the rest of the night, but the day ended with a birthday dinner with more singing and candles, and some very thoughtful gifts.  And then, we all put some chairs together.  As in assembled chairs.  Yes, really.  It was horrible in the sense that we were all confused, did multiple things wrong, and wanted to quit.  But, it was also great in the sense that we had help, they looked great, and at the end of my 26^th birthday we finally had a grown-up table with chairs to fit our semi-grown-up lives.

The Day the World Stopped Turning

This Sunday was the ten year anniversary of September 11^th.  The date has a way of making people think a little more than normal.  Yesterday I began thinking about all that we take for granted, all that has faded since that day and what has taken the place of the passion and determination Americans portrayed during the months following the attacks. 

I know where I was on September 11^th, 2001.  I was in high school, on my way to math class where my classmates and I watched the towers burning on TV.  I didn’t know the gravity of the situation at the time, but I knew it was bad.  Very bad.  It was the week before my 16^th birthday and my parents were in Tennessee for business.  My mother had promised me she’d be back by my birthday, something which seemed very important at the time, but on September 11^th, I was just grateful that my parents were not on a plane that day.  I just was just grateful for them.  Days before, my mother had decided to send me balloons while she was gone, just to let me know she was thinking of me.  They arrived at school on September 11^th, 2001 with a note that could not have been more perfect at the time.

I went home early that day, I didn’t feel well.  I spent the night with my grandparents and remember my grandpa being glued to the TV.  My aunt called to see how I was doing with the news.  I was beginning to understand the gravity of the situation a little more.  The more I learned, the more I was confused.  It didn’t make sense, all of the violence, all of the destruction.

I think the attacks on September 11^th is for my generation what Pearl Harbor was for my grandparent’s generation.  It’s a reminder that world peace has not been reached and discrimination, violence, and inhumanity exist, even in our own little worlds, which really aren’t so little.  It’s also a reminder to choose our words more carefully, tell those that we love that they are loved, and spend a little more time being silly and a little less being practical.  And above all, this date, this horrible event, is a reminder of what we can be as Americans. 

The days and months after the attack Americans flew their flags high, covered their cars with support for the troops, rallied together, and were simply proud to be American.  Yesterday as we drove along the freeway I saw plenty of American flags.  It saddened me as I noticed that less than half of these flags were at half-mast.  What has happened to our pride, our spirit, our determination?  Now September 11^th is used as an excuse to treat others as less than us because they resemble the image that has been branded as a terrorist.  We’ve given up freedoms to stay “safe”, all because we are told this is what needs to be done.  We have forgotten the sense of community that is so vital to surviving as a nation.

It’s sad the things that are forgotten in everyday life.  As the year goes on, we all go back to our lives.  However, there are those – the businessmen and women who were in the towers or the pentagon or a plane who didn’t make it home for dinner that night, the families and friends who lost one or many they love, the  soldiers who left their families to fight and didn’t return, or those that did but missed the birth of their child or time with their families – these people don’t forget.

So today I remember those that have lost so much, those that have given so much.  As daily life continues, I will get back to my life, but for awhile I will remember to be so very grateful for all that I have been blessed with, and for the fact that I am an American.