How on Earth did this happen!

I turned 34 this week and it made me think..... How in the hell did I get so old! I can still remember thinking that my life was going to end (at least socially) the moment I turned 21. Now I am 13 years north of that land mark and I can't help but want to find a time machine and kick my younger self in the butt. Sure, I might have a few more curves than I did at 17 and, unfortunately, a LOT more gray hairs that I am waging a vicious battle against.... but I am actually having a lot of fun growing older. All day on my birthday, people kept joking with me about "Being 29 again" and I must have said "Actually, I am quite proud to be 34" at least a hundred times.

I don't understand why women try to deny their true age... .Come on ladies!!!!! You should be proud to be you! Proud of every wrinkle, every curve, and - yes ladies I do mean this one- every stretch mark. I have 3 kids. I have my share. Do I wish I didn't? I would love to be like all those genetically gifted women who can have a baby and throw a bikini on a half hour later!! But I am not. I am far from perfect, but my body tells the story of my life.... the good and the bad.

I guess I could be a glass-half-empty jerk and gripe about how much I miss my twenties, but then I would be lying through my teeth. My twenties was spent changing diapers, banging my head against a wall while trying to find a magic solution for my mothers drinking problem, and trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I got all growed up. There are days when I wake up and feel 80, but most of the time I am just happy to be me at the moment I am at. I am still a ways away from a senior discount card and I can still go out and dance all night long without griping about the music being played by a DJ that just graduated from high school by the looks of him.

So yeah, I am another year older. Not much wiser, a hell of a lot funnier and ready to find out what the next year has to show me and teach me. I cannot wait for next year so I can smile as I say... "It's my birthday! I am now 35!!!"