{"id":305,"date":"2008-09-05T07:31:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-05T11:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=305"},"modified":"2008-09-05T07:31:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-05T11:31:00","slug":"39-and-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=305","title":{"rendered":"39 and counting!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_ESvCH9ghcAI\/SMEv78c9cCI\/AAAAAAAAArE\/IwoN1fVugoA\/s1600-h\/2000_40_52---Number-Fourty_web.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_ESvCH9ghcAI\/SMEv78c9cCI\/AAAAAAAAArE\/IwoN1fVugoA\/s400\/2000_40_52---Number-Fourty_web.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\"id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242524148122349602\" \/><\/a><br \/>I am saying goodbye to the 30s soon.  I am looking forward to this next decade with anticipation.  The 30s for me was about discovery usually by trial and error.  I often lost myself in the midst of motherhood and being wife.  Time for myself was a rarity.<\/p>\n<p>I found myself and defining where I belong in the extended family&#8230; whether it was with my family or Sanj&#8217;s.  It was a time to discover new friendships, and see which older friendships stood the test of time.   I learn to define what a friend is to me.  I learned to release people that did not make me a better person or that took me down a path I did not want to go.<\/p>\n<p>It was about making discoveries about myself such as who I really am and can be.  It was about learning that I like people and working together toward a great cause.  <\/p>\n<p>It was about learning to become a leader (something I never have been before) rather than a follower.  I learned to make things that were important happen rather than wondering if they would happen. <\/p>\n<p>I learned it is OK to be really happy and really sad. It is OK to feel disappointment deep in the core of you.  It is OK to be me.  Me&#8230; whatever all that entails  the good, bad and ugly.<\/p>\n<p>I learned that &#8220;talents&#8221; are things like the ability to really love, to  accept, to be positive.  To be real, to be open and inviting.  To be giving and hospitable and forgive.<\/p>\n<p>I learned that I am weird, corky even maybe eccentric.  But that is OK.  I find normal kind of boring.  But than maybe that is just an excuse to make myself feel better &#8230; that I am not the norm.<\/p>\n<p>I think that my six sons were all part of an amazing plan.  Part of being different&#8230; standing out in a crowd.  They were given to me as a gift.  A gift that I will spend the rest  of my life unwrapping wonderful little surprises each of them will bring into my life.<\/p>\n<p>My husband was my special blessing.  Life would not be as wonderful, crazy and full if he was not my partner in this crazy journey we are on together.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest discovery of my 30s is that I am loved.  Not just a bit&#8230; but oozing over with all different kinds of love.  I feel it when I am with my friends, my family and my sons, my husband and mostly by God.<\/p>\n<p>After spending so much of my early years feeling unloved&#8230; my cup is overflowing with love.  I feel it&#8230; as I breathe.  It fills my soul.  It grounds me and makes me want to pass it on.  Love.  There is nothing like it&#8230; feeling you are loved, knowing you are loved.  It really is the one thing in life that is priceless.  <\/p>\n<p>You can&#8217;t make people love you.  It is a gift.  So as I greet the next  40 years with hope, dreams and excitement&#8230; I am grateful for the last 40 years.  For all I have learned, grown from and become.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for all that love me.  You have made my life rich in a way that no one else can.  You are loved dearly.<\/p>\n<p>Here I come 40!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am saying goodbye to the 30s soon. I am looking forward to this next decade with anticipation. The 30s for me was about discovery usually by trial and error. I often lost myself in the midst of motherhood and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=305\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}