My Quarter Life in Retrospect

Today is the last day of my 25th year (at least, kind of...there's that whole year before your first birthday, but that's too much for me to think about. Gosh, math is hard.). Tomorrow I turn a whopping 26 years old. If you'd have asked me 10 years ago where I thought I would be when I turned 26, the answer would not have been, "Married with 3 kids, working as a civil engineer in Georgia." Not by a long shot. In fact, it probably would have been the opposite...something like, "Working in the medical field somewhere in the northeast whole-heartedly devoted to my career. Family? Eh."

Funny how life takes us exactly where we are meant to be. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you can't plan for everything, and you have to be prepared for anything.

Other things I have learned:
~how to make sweet tea
~how to survive culture shock
~how not to scream like a little girl at the sight of a roach
~how to pack for a week long trip for a family of five in about an hour
~how to say "I Love You"
~how a sewing machine works
~how hard it is to be a mom
~how worth it is to be a mom
~that, sadly, I am rarely right
~that a cold rag and a lollipop can cure just about any ailment
~that mother-in-laws can be one of life's great blessings
~that I can't eat like I did when I was a teenager anymore
~that I shouldn't have eaten like that then
~that the dishes and laundry will always wait for me
~that humility and self-deprecation are not the same thing
~that my body is "made for making and having babies"
~to take pictures of the moments in between, because that's what this life is all about
~to just let it out when I need a good cry
~to immediately change into jammies when I get home
~to listen more and talk less
~to not be afraid to talk when the need be
~to try to find the positive in every situation (but it's still not natural for me)
~to learn from every encounter
~to trust in God's plan

My last 25 years have been an amazing ride. I can't wait to see where the next 25 take me. (At this rate I'll be a grandmother!)