when finally set free: on turning twenty-eight

It seems my blogging patterns are as follows: New Year's, anniversary, birthday; repeat cycle. I suppose that's okay, although I wish it were more. I'm glad to have captured these three important, more reflective times, at the very least...

Last Thursday I turned twenty-eight years old. I think this was the first year I didn't dread turning older, even in the slightest. I've come to a place in life where I have accepted the fact that aging is a good thing. After all, if I wasn't aging, I wouldn't be alive. There's a perspective shift if I've ever seen one! I told some friends of mine recently that twenty-eight is an age I've been looking forward to since I was younger. Twenty-eight has always stood out to me, I think because it's the age my mom had me, so I've had some sort of connection to it. I always thought, "when I'm twenty-eight, I'm going to be a mature, responsible adult, who has everything together and in order!" Wow, younger self, way to put some hefty expectations on me!

Now that I've reached this milestone of an age, I don't know that I can necessarily claim to have met all of my expectations, but I can confidently say that I am happy, and I have joy in my life. I recently read a blog post that inspired me to reflect on the areas in my life where I find genuine happiness and wholeness. I love that so much. The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to be happy. It's such a simple concept, but we live in a world that is full of negativity and it can be so easy to just slip into that. Sometimes we just have to fight to be happy, and I fully support that.

I reflected on the last few "birthday posts" I've done, and a common trend in my writing I noticed was having expectations for what the next year of my life should look like. I think I am going to give myself a break this time. No expectations - just be happy, be whole, be you. I believe if I can cling to this simple, yet impacting truth, I think I'll be just fine.

Simply put: I'm grateful for aging; I'm grateful to be alive.

>>>>>

& what's a birthday post without some birthday celebratory photos?

I'm indebted to these lovely souls for making my life so full.