Through My New Eyes

For as long as I can remember, starting anywhere from January to June, I would begin the countdown to September 16th. It was to be the best day of the year, hands down, every year, but 2010 was a totally different story. Not only was I not counting down the days, but I had completely been dreading it since September 17th, 2009. This undesired event was my 30th birthday. I don't really know what all the apprehension was about; however, I was seriously in distress over the whole ordeal. Several of my friends had assured me that nothing really changed when they hit the big 3-0, but I wasn't buying it. Even my mom kept reminding me that come December, she turns fifty, so what was my problem?

Although my birthday ended up not so horrendously, I was not completely caught off guard by what came later that day. I had not had an eye exam since 2000 when the doctor informed me I no longer needed glasses or contacts to correct my vision, but I had been experiencing some "visible" changes when it came to reading and TV and computer usage in previous months. When I called to make appointments for Chris and me, I just took the first day she had available. It took several days for me to realize that I was gifting myself with an eye doctor appointment. Meanwhile, the optometrist also had a little gift for me... a brand new  prescription for eye glasses. Happy birthday to me.

After all the trepidation of turning thirty, I now realize that my older and wiser friends and family were right, I was worried for nothing. Not only did I not wake up with wrinkles, gray hair, or an overwhelming urge to have dinner at 5:30, but I really began thinking about how blessed I am to have made it to thirty and to have a wonderful husband, three amazing kids, and an extended family who is so loving, giving, and extremely supportive. It would take me another thirty years just to count all those blessings. Now, I know that my new glasses don't have some magic power that has helped me see that my fear or stress or whatever it was that I faced in entering this new decade in my life, but I do believe that they weren't the only new thing I received that day. I was gifted with a brand new perspective. God has shown me that age is just a number that we can either fear or live out to the fullest. Although I haven't fully rejoiced in turning thirty, I now see it as just another time of celebration rather than a fearful one of regrets and worries. One of these days, I will wake up with those gray hairs and wrinkles, but I discovered an amazing verse this weekend that kind of makes me wish for that silver to start cropping up. "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life." Proverbs 16:31