I think your thirtieth is one that there is a lot of hype leading up to, but it felt a bit anticlimactic today. I thought I was either supposed to have some kind of emotional crisis or be jumping up and down about all that life holds. It felt a bit like the day after yesterday.
All that being said, I'm pretty happy to be thirty. I have no regrets about life. I've seen things and had experiences that people classify as "once in a lifetime" and I get to view as another ordinary day. I've seen much of the world. I've gotten to make a difference in peoples' lives. I've been deeply impacted by other people. I don't know how much more living I could have crammed into these thirty years!
And I look forward to what is ahead. I have no idea what truly is ahead. (do any of us really?) But after next December I have no idea what life may hold. I'm such a planner and not having at least a plan in process used to really freak me out. But, now I'm seeing the potential of all the possibilities and knowing I'm following in the footsteps that God has laid out for me. And that makes the unknown exciting rather than scary.
Today my family didn't have plans until the evening so I pulled my brother out of bed at about 10am this morning and asked if he wanted to go x-country skiing with me at Giants' Ridge, the nearby ski hill here in northern MN. I went downhill skiing on Wednesday but have never tried the x-country ski trails. We rented skiis and hit the trails. Well, I am a much better down hill skier than I am x-country. I was wobbling as I tried to skate ski, and I forgot what a full-body workout it was!
Here's some photos from our day:
My brother William was a brave soul as I dragged him along. He took a number of spills but kept getting up and pushing on.
I was pretty excited that I was upright most of the time and enjoyed the trails. However, as we were coming down a hill and around a corner, another skier was just standing at the bottom of the hill. William fell to avoid hitting her, and I tried getting off the track to avoid hitting him. Well, I basically belly-flopped head first on to the groomed trail, going down the hill at a pretty good clip, and I'm pretty sure I bruised or cracked a rib on my right side. If I laugh or breathe deeply I feel a good amount of pain. Funny, I've been rocketing my body down mountains on skis for a number of years and have never done that and then I go down a bit of an incline going cross country and get a pretty good injury.
But after it all, we still had smiles on our faces! I'm thankful for a brother who's willing to get out and do some fun stuff with me. I see my family so rarely so times like these are ones I'll treasure for a long time.
So, cheers to a new decade. I hope there are many adventures to come, many new friends to meet, continued relationships that will deepen and grow, and a God who is the spearhead of it all and loves me so much that he is writing me a pretty awesome story.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes!
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