35
35. The year my oldest daughter started baking me my favorite unfrosted angel food birthday cake. The year I spent half the morning riding around Hinton on my new birthday bike and the other half watching one of the most train-wreckish-but can’t-look-away type shows (Married At First Sight – you are the worst show ever). Maybe it’s a bit of extra insight that came with age, maybe it’s being finished with school (forever), or maybe it’s being back in a town with family and I’m swimming now rather than drowning; regardless, life looks differently than it once did.
Laundry no longer resides on my couch. I designed and built a custom table for my laundry room and now I actually do laundry in my laundry room. This has really changed the look of my living room and gives people a place to sit. Still secretly trying to snag me a carpenter side gig.
Goodbye bottle of dish soap that made its home on the back of my kitchen sink for the first 17 years of my adulthood. I started using the soap dispenser that is attached to my sink. Ashamed this took me so long. Quite convenient.
After taking 12 years off from running long distances due to an injury (and after a doctor told me to stop running and to start wearing heels – ha), I finally decided to betray the doctor and run anyway. I ran a half marathon with my sister in April, have another one coming in November, and as long as this 35 year old body holds up I plan to make a bold attempt at the full next spring. These days I don’t have my father following behind me in a car honking at halfway points, but I do occasionally have 3 small people following me on bikes (occasionally the old father as well). I have also continued on my path of “whatever world” and am now clothed in wife beaters 80% of the time in an effort to survive summer running.
I have stopped tying my level of fun or youth-ness to my ability to stay up until 3AM for multiple nights in a row. Getting in bed at 10 no longer makes me feel like a loser.
Reading books is my new favorite and audible has replaced my loud, poppy, running music.
I can’t remember the last time I ate Ramen noodles.
All of this to say, I think I’m officially settling into the idea that being “middle aged” is right around the corner and I’m not fighting against it like I once did. Maybe with age comes something special.
In January, I sat 35 “resolutions” I didn’t aim to hold onto and pursue, but some of them have been checked off. (And…35 was just a random number when I wrote them down – it has nothing to do with being 35.) Sometimes we set goals for ourselves, but then they float off, we forget, we burn out, we stop caring or maybe we just fail to check back in, so since we are about halfway through this year, here’s me checking in.
Learn to like drinking hot tea – NOPE
Lose 14 pounds by March 1st – NOPE, BUT I CAN FIT INTO ALL MY SHORTS THAT DIDN’T FIT LAST SUMMER AND EASILY RUN FOR OVER AN HOUR ON ANY GIVEN DAY SO WINNING!
Lay down my night owl tendencies and become a morning person – MUCH BETTER THAN LAST YEAR.
Read a book a month – I’VE READ A GAZILLION BOOKS THIS YEAR.
Go on a mini-vacation with Kyle – WENT ON A VACATION WITH THE BIG FAM, BUT I DON’T FORSEE THE MINI-VACATION HAPPENING.
Take the kids to the river at least 3 times this summer – FORGOT ABOUT THIS ONE.
Take the kids to White Water (or whatever the heck it’s called now) – CHANGED MY MIND, I’M MAKING KYLE TAKE ME THIS EVENING FOR MY BDAY. HE DOESN’T KNOW YET. GET READY.
Eat more chicken – MEH…
Figure out how to love yoga – NOPE
Do yoga 4 times a week – NOPE
Turn our shop into a home gym – DONESY IN THE GARAGE
Call Uncle Dusty to electrify our shop to become a home gym – NEW LOCATION TO AN ALREADY ELECTRIFIED LOCATION.
Avoid paying any more Share Medical Center bills – SOMEHOW THIS HAPPENED. I GUESS MOVING OUT OF ALVA DID THE TRICK
Become friends with someone in my new (old) town who knows it’s okay to show up unannounced at my door, eat my food without asking, calls me just to talk, and is open to this love being reciprocated. – JORDAN AND NASH THANKS FOR STOPPING BY SPUR OF THE MOMENT FOR 4 MINUTES LAST NIGHT TO EAT MY BIRTHDAY EVE CAKE!
Finish the first draft of a book – I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE A 185 PAGE DOCUMENT SITTING HERE WAITING TO BE ATTENDED TO.
Spend time with Jesus daily in my peace place – HADDI HAS TURNED MY PEACE PLACE INTO HER LOUNGE-AND-WATCH-SHOWS-PLACE. RUDE.
Go on a date with Kyle at least once a month – HAHA.
Keep the five plants I have alive – SOMEHOW THESE GUYS ARE THRIVING!
Keep the already established outside plants alive – THIS DEFINITELY HAPPENED UNTIL TWO TURTLES TOOK UP OCCUPANCY IN THE BACKYARD AND NOW THE PRETTY ORANGE FLOWERS HAVE BEEN TATTERED AFTER SEARCHING FOR THE TURTLES FIVE SEPARATE TIMES A DAY.
Drink my entire hydrojug once a day – WATER INTAKE HAS DEFINITELY BEEN MUCH GREATER.
Throw my cell phone in the river and revert to a landline – STILL A DEEP DESIRE.
Finish Kyle’s grizzly bear quilt – HAHA; I ACTUALLY DID THIS.
Sew myself an old-timey quilt with 2 inch squares all over it and then attached my already cozy blanket to the back of it. – STARTED AN ADAPTED VERSION OF THIS LAST WEEK.
Make Malachi a shark quilt – NEGATIVE; HE FORGOT ABOUT IT.
Purchase and wrap all Christmas presents by December 15th, 2023 – DOUBT THIS HAPPENS, BUT WE AREN’T QUITE THERE YET.
Drink a highland chocolate milk once a week – I DRINK WAY TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE MILK.
Run a half marathon in April 2023 – WOOP WOOP! REGISTERED FOR ANOTHER IN NOVEMBER.
Buy a second fitted sheet – I’M PRETTY SURE THIS HAPPENED.
Retrieve my old dresser from my cousin’s house to get it out of their way – CHECK
Have a garage sale – CHECK; I MADE A SOLID $32 AND GOT RID OF HALF OF MY BELONGINGS.
Paint my bedroom – CHECK
Take the kids hiking at Red Rock at least once a week in the summer – MY CHILDREN DECIDED THEY HATE HIKING, BUT THE POOL HAS BEEN NICE.
Pass my CMPC exam – CHECK; HARDEST TEST I’VE EVER TAKEN.
Teach Hads to do ball handling drills – NOT YET.
Convince Everly to race my brother – NOPE.
Now that you’ve had a very thorough re-cap on Brooke’s life, to those of you who made it this far, thanks for caring. I’ve felt very loved for most of my 35 years and I’m grateful for so very many of you. I suppose I will go fold a few more loads of laundry before going out on a hot hibachi date with Kyle tonight.
Here’s to 35! Thanks for all the happy birthdays!
Bye friends!
