I’M OVER THE HILL

When I turned 30, I recorded all of my accomplishments from my 20’s in this blog post. So, as I’ve been approaching 40, I’ve been eager to repeat the process. Last week, a friend pointed out that I’m a reflector and it’s true! I always love to complete something, reflect on how it went, usually blog about it and then move forward in confidence that I’ve grown and I’m ready for whatever comes next. Now that I’m finally over the hill, I’m excited to share the things that meant most to me and shaped me in my 30s:

I kayaked in both the Caribbean and Murrell’s Inlet, crossed the finish line during the Cooper River Bridge Run, hit Gold with Young Living Essential Oils and walked across stage with 20,000 people in the audience to shake Gary Young’s hand and receive my award, got purple highlights in my hair and chopped it all off and donated it again two more times, cheered Nick on as he won his age group in a Triathlon, enjoyed several family cruises to the Caribbean, hiked all over Hawaii with my friend Emily, road-tripped to Texas with my sisters and visited Magnolia, hiked Pinnacle Mountain twice and decided it’s my favorite hike ever, saw my real life cowboy, Ben Temple, compete in a few Rodeos, attempted my own Triathlon but was brought back to the finish line in an ambulance instead, completed our renovation and enjoyed living in the most beautiful home we’ve ever owned, road-tripped most of January-July of 2018 seeing everything from touring DC, camping on the coast in Maine and eating lobster, getting soaked in Niagara Falls, relaxing in Oak Island, avoiding sharks at New Smyrna Beach, getting motion sickness on rides in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, riding an airboat in the Everglades, looking at my reflection in the Chicago Bean, touring the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter, being underwhelmed by Mount Rushmore, taking a Maker’s Mark tour, driving to Canada to see Banff and hike to the Lake Louise Tea House, making it all the way over to the Northwest corner again, walking through the Japanese Garden and Rose Test Garden in Portland, relaxing on a two week Alaskan cruise, hiking in Colorado with my cousins, white water rafting in Spokane on the Young Living Gold Retreat, and then we wrapped up this trip of a lifetime to come back home and see our two baby sisters get married and just as we felt that life couldn’t get any better, found out we were pregnant, but miscarried and buried our sweet little nugget in my parent’s backyard.

This was followed by a series of losses over some difficult years in which we found out that Nick’s dad had cancer and our niece was diagnosed with Sanfilippo syndrome and they both passed away soon after, while at the same time we were struggling to get pregnant and found out through our own genetic testing that Nick also carries the Sanfilippo gene. Our lives slowed down significantly, but I still enjoyed a trip out west with my mom to the Young Living Beauty School and then again, another trip with my mom, when I earned an Alaskan Cruise and invited her to join me and we even got to treat ourselves to High Tea in Canada. A sweet friend gave me my Labradoodle Lucy and she became my quiet little companion and soon after, we sold our perfect home in Florence, bought a Fixer Upper in Greenville and were thrilled to find out we were pregnant again, just in time for COVID to shut down the world, but the months at home gave us time to finish our renovations and spend quality time together before becoming parents. 

We delivered Ivy with a midwife and without any epidural or pain medications and after her 1st birthday, rented out our house and took her on her first big roadtrip, going all up and down the east coast making stops in Oak Island, Wilmington, all over the outer banks and camping on the magical island of Ocracoke, visiting family in NJ, walking around colonial Williamsburg and hiking around Gettysburg, taking her to Animal Kingdom, the Biltmore, to the Cabbage Patch Kids Hospital right outside of Helen, GA and so many places in between that I struggle to remember. In her short little life, she’s cruised the Caribbean, been to an all-inclusive in Cancun and still asks to go back to the kids slide, been to the Dominican Republic twice on missions trips, spent a week in London, played at Dollywood, countless weekend getaways and girls trips, hiking, camping, swimming, boating, bike riding, walks, baseball games, trips to the beach, family outings, yoga classes, playgrounds all over, horseback riding, paddleboarding, dance camps, church camps, scootering, hugged Anna and Elsa at the Epcot Frozen ride, loved going to school in 2K-4K and she couldn’t be happier to be in Kindergarten now. She is extroverted, adventurous, full of energy, happy, an amazing traveler and the perfect addition to our family.

A couple years ago, I got off social media and haven’t missed it one bit, we bought another Fixer Upper, which we still live in now, purchased our first rental property down the street from us, enjoyed more than $30,000 in FREE travel since learning how to travel hack and we are getting ready to celebrate 18 years married on (another FREE) trip to Cancun! Over the weekend, as Nick and I were both reflecting, we agreed that other than the first year we were married and the first six months of 2018, this year has been our best year yet. We’re both 40, in good health and happily married, we have caring friendships, supportive family, are involved in our church that we love, Nick's business in thriving, we're involved in missions and travel often, live in a very friendly community, Ivy is wonderful, happy and healthy and we both recognize how blessed we are and how quickly things can change. So, as I sit here, days into 40 and everything going for me, I’m reminding myself to enjoy the moments because these are the days that I’ll look back on and wish for when they are gone.

Each decade has been better than the last and I’m ready to see what 40 has got for me!