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Monday, May 2, 2011

Quarter life crisis


People are living longer these days. If I live to be 100 then I have already finished the first quarter of my life.  I would say it was a pretty productive quarter:
Birth (thanks mom)... (and dad)
Youth (dedicated to soccer and dogs)
Teens: (crazy I might add)
College graduation: (nobody saw THAT coming)
20: (very wild year, last year as a single lady)
21- 29: (I have dedicated these to my husband because I met him at 21) Babies 1 and 2
30-33: (babies 3 and 4)
33-34: snooze
35+ Now what?
I had this realization last week. I was at my niece’s confirmation.  I was looking at her thinking that she has so much to look forward too. High school, college, friends, boyfriends, life. She is beautiful, athletic, and smart and the world is her oyster. Youth is wasted on the young! Wow, I really am getting old.
Plus the royal wedding was last week and whenever I watch any wedding I regret my wedding dress choice.  I never wear strapless anything, but for whatever reason I thought it would be a good idea to wear a strapless wedding dress. I spent the entire night pulling it up and as the videographer as my witness, my nipple made a cameo as I was dancing with my father.
Then you have your first baby and that is always exciting.  Maybe what I am getting at is there won't be another reason to dress up and have a party to celebrate anything really big. Oh sure I could re-new our vows, but last time I checked I didn't think they expired, there for, no reason for renewal.  I suppose we could celebrate my birthday, but that would be counterproductive for my quarter life crisis.
I realize that I will celebrate my son's achievements, heck just the other day Jack learned to put his pants on, albeit they were backwards, oh and we bought a new mattress, not your typical one but a memory foam! Time for an ice cream cake.
But what about me?
Immediately I started making plans for our 5th baby and remembered that this is why I had my tubes tied.
My bucket list is mostly completed and I just started my 34th year!
Marriage, check, kids, check, house, check, job, check. Meeting Oprah, check.
I did work hard to get where I am today but its like I have climbed this mountain, gotten to the top only to find flat land for the next 76 years until I get to the end and fall off.
Did I not set my standards high enough? After all, I am living the American dream, but now I seemed to have hit the snooze button.
I think my Dad went through this at this age and that is how I came along 7 years after my brother and how they ended up having a 1977 corvette.
My point is, I work at a place I will work for the rest of my life. I live in the home I will live in for the rest of my life and I'm married to the person I will be married to for the rest of my life. Maybe that is why swinging was invented. Totally kidding (DON).
Is this it? Clearly I don't have the answer.  But right now I feel like I'm on a road trip of my life and if I was crossing the country from West to East my midlife is looking like Kansas, Missouri and Illinois and if you have ever been on that road trip the most exciting part of that is the next McDonalds to get a twist cone... and for the record they don't even have swirl anymore, only vanilla.

3 comments:

  1. I think asking every McDonalds on our roadtrip if they had swirl cones was probably better than actually getting one! :) ha ha. It's the journey, not the destination (epecially when getting through Nebraska)

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  2. I feel like you live in my head! While looking in the eyes of my 37th birthday, I just had this realization last week too.

    It's the I did this-check, did that-check and "Now What?" problem. Being task oriented has been a wonderful and productive thing in my life so far. However, I can't believe my life is forever about getting it all done. (Because it's NEVER done!) I want to enjoy it MORE. Still I can't change that I like crossing things off my list.

    I don't know what's next, but I am learning not to ask the question. When asking "Now What?" sometimes I don't want to know the answer. I'd rather keep looking myself so I can find a different drive thru that has the twist!

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  3. You are young! I can relate to everything and laughed at the thought of the nipple shot. Good writing. Thanks for sharing.

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