9 years ago....turning 32

This past weekend was a celebration of sorts. It was the anniversary of when Steve and I first met and it was my 32nd birthday. 9 years ago I remember walking into this strangers house. He was a youth pastor and in charge of the C & C group at one of the local churches. So I walk into his house and there's a woman in the kitchen, cooking something in the oven. I thought okay. Then I found out that Steve was in the shower. And I remember thinking "what kind of church group is this?". Of course it turned out that Steve was just a totally relaxing, oblilvious, kind of guy. It's amazing what marriage and 4 kids can do to a person, right? While he can still be kind of oblivious, he's not so relaxed anymore. Anyway, I'm sidetracking... So there I was sitting in his little living room on a ratty old sofa-bed that had been boughten second hand (and actually stayed with us for the first...well nearly 7 years of our marriage) and in walks this guy wearing a plaid shirt and army cargo pants. I remember liking the way his hair curled out from under his Roughrider baseball cap. And the rest, as they say, is history!

And I turned 32. Wow. I'm 32 and have 4 kids. That's unbelievable. On one hand I feel like I've lost my "youth". Aren't young people supposed to travel and see the world between 20-30? And here I am, getting married and popping out kids? Where's the sense of adventure in that? But on the other hand, now I'm done. I'm complete. I can still wrestle and hike with my kids. And then, a few years down the road (and I mean quite a few) when the kids are old enough, we'll still be young enough to go see the world (here's hoping anyway) and do our adventuring. Our eventual goal is to Winnobago our way around N. America...what can I say? We're simple folk.

But until then, we'll just have to sit back and reflect on our "wealth", perhaps not in the way that other people our generation do, by distance travelled or such, but in the laughter of our kids and the way they see the world around them...even if it is only in our own backyard.