my golden year

25 has been so good to me.
it happened to be everything i needed
i don't know if everyone can say this, but i think i really came into my own.

my health finally seemed to balance out.

i worked on conquering my fears. i can confidently say i've mastered my fear of snakes. my heart no longer races when i come across them, i don't even run away. the true test of accomplishment was when we went hiking up grove creek and cezar happened to walk right over a very large snake and my foot was next in line.  we both held our ground and even turned around to get a better look at it and make sure it wasn't a rattler. i'm no longer baby stepping it... i'm taking giant strides. {i will say that holding them will never be on the docket... at least i'm no longer living in fear of them}

i never would have thought that my family roots/heritage would surface to the extent of it this past year. my grandpa is a farmer. i grew up around it. we even had chickens in the backyard of our house in springville. a small orchard and large garden. harvest season was spent with my momma in the kitchen canning and putting up goods for the coming months. preserving the wonderful bounty of the season. we would visit the garden center, occasionally join grandpa in the field for melon picking, or early morning raspberry picking with mom hoping to beat the heat. {we never escaped the mosquitoes though}. we played in the fields, climbed mountains of dirt and loved the animals grandpa keeps around for pumpkinland. i have incredible memories of those years.... but boldly declared that would never be anything i'd want to follow footsteps in. oh the endless amount of 'nevers' that i've eaten.... my heart is in the farm, the garden and everything that i enjoyed as a child but never thought would be my love in adulthood. my dream now is to live on the outskirts, have a couple acres of land, chickens, livestock, gardens... my own little homestead.

until then i'm making my little corner lot my little mini homestead. fruit trees, gardens, sustainable landscaping. and i'll spend the summer months bottling up the harvest season.




a few things that remind me that i'm turning into an 'old fart' --
comfort wins over style. our hybrid takes the cake over mitchel's past sports cars.
early bedtimes and waking up early to enjoy some of the day that isn't spent at work.
days off turn into catch up days at home
fire works are fabulous in the right setup otherwise i'm my father's daughter and they make me nervous
i may be the neighbor who also calls the cops on other neighbors for lighting fireworks off in june....
country music wins on the radio. the hip hop, rap, and what ever popular songs are just noise to me.

tomorrow brings another year. another year of discovery, challenges 

and learning a little bit more about myself. i don't find getting older daunting.

"another year older and wiser too.... happy birthday to me."