Thirty is the new twenty

I can't believe that in just three more sleeps I will be thirty years old.
I remember being at school and thinking that thirty was so old and by then my life would be just about over. I would wear daggy tracksuits and stay at home and bake biscuits all day.

I definetely did not imagine this sweet turn of events where I would be spending my thirtieth birthday in Florence, Italy.

The good news (apart from the above fact that I'm in one of the most enchanting cities in the world) is that I know I don't look thirty. I constantly get told I look a lot younger. If only they knew how much I spend on moisurisers and how much make up is under my eyes!

But the bad news is that sometimes I'm so tired that I don't feel thirty at all. I feel more like sixty! I remember going out wearing stilleto's and partying until wee hours of the morning. I would quite happily wake up the next morning and attend a university lecture at 8am. These days, if I don't get to bed at a reasonable hour, my husband tells me how cranky I get the next day. I hate it when he's right. And as for the stilleto's? Well I am a girly girl so I still wear them and complain bitterly about my sore back to anyone that will listen.

As women, I don't think we give ourselves enough credit for what we have achieved in our lives, no matter what age we are. Certainly in this stage of my life where I keep getting jokes about being a 'kept woman' and not having a job or children to look after, I sometimes doubt myself in what I have achieved to date. So, I've decided to write a list of some of the things that I have achieved in my life and also what I hope to achieve.

This is by no means meant to be a vain exercise but just a reassurance to myself that I've had a wonderful thirty years thus far. Here's hoping the next thirty are just as good, because even if I don't get one more blessing in my life, I feel I've been blessed far more than most. And I challenge every woman (and man) reading this to think up of their own list. I have to admit that initially I wrote down three points, got stuck and was about to delete this blog.

So, here it is. Things I've achieved and things I hope to achieve in the next thirty years. Most importantly though, I acknowledge that I couldn't have achieved anything in my life without God and without so many different people at various crossroads in my life.

1. I'm alive and healthy. Having survived a major car accident when I was five (the others in the car were not so lucky), I consider it a privilege to be in this world. And having the opportunity to see a lot of the world, I especially value becoming an Australian citizen.

2. I worked three jobs to support myself through university and finished a marketing degree (and still found time to party as mentioned above!)and then managed to find a wonderful job.

3. I found the most sincere, loyal husband in the world and kept him (so far so good)for 9 years...although he tells me he is only here for my Polish cooking. Did I mention he's extremely handsome too!? Please don't hate me!

4. I have survived six months of not working. This statement is not a joke. In fact, for me, following my husband on this Europe assignment was a big adjustment as I very much liked my career and still struggle with not having a "proper job".

5. I have kept my body healthy and exercised at least four times a week for seven years now. Before then I did no exercise and a friend of mine who hadn't seen me for a while told me I had put on weight (he was unfortunately right). I decided to exercise from that very day and whilst some days it's a challenge, I do it for the health and well being of my body. And to fit into my favourite pair of jeans but that part is vanity!

6. We worked our butts off in our first years of mariage to buy our first home. Mind you, we both saw very little of each other as we were always at work, our TV sat on the carpet as we couldn't afford a TV table and this was in the times when houses were actually affordable in Perth unlike now.

7. I found God and the comfort of praying daily. This actually should have been my first point as without Him I feel like none of my achievements would have occurred.

8. I was hoping to have ten points but I'm now out of ideas. I thought that surely I I could list more than just seven points...have I really only achieved one thing every four years?


Ok, so I didn't make my ten points. But here are some things I hope to achieve:

1. Become a better person and a better wife for I feel like we can always improve and grow in our lives

2. Become a mother. But not just any mother, a great mother. My friends with children really inspire me.

3. Finish writing my autobiography. I've dreamt of writing a book since I was a young girl and my primary school teacher told me she enjoyed my story writing.

4. Curb my chocolate addiction. I eat more chocolate daily than most people do every week and it is my one big weakness that I seem to have no control over.

5. I hope to read the Bible from start to finish one day. So far I've been unsuccessful.

6. And last but not least, I hope to someday willingly eat vegetables every day. I just don't enjoy them unless they are deep fried, covered in mushroom sauce or pickled (Polish gherkins, now there is a good vegetable).

So, there you have it. I can honestly say this has been a very hard blog to write. It's much easier to write about visiting a cathedral in Florence or enjoying the Tuscan sun. It's always harder to delve into one's soul, especially your own, as you may not always like what you see.