Look Both Ways

In about two weeks I'll be turning 26.  Growing up in a big family, us kids were only allowed BIG birthday parties (with all the crazy decorations, friends, games, party favors, etc.) when we each turned 6 and 16.  Funny enough, I vivdly remember my 6th birthday just because of this!  Then when I was 16 I wasn't much of a social butterfly and decided to forego all the hullabuloo and just had some church family over to celebrate.

Favorite pic of my 6th birthday, huggin my dad!



20th Birthday in Italia

This year is going to be totally different.  It will be the second time that I'm having a birthday party in Italy...and for me, that's a big deal!  I'm already having fun planning the party I'll be having there, making it a big celebration.  Kind of fitting with the every 10 year big blowout theme my parents started, huh?  Though, with all the silliness, I have to stop and reflect a little bit..after all, it's supposed to be "Another year older, another year wiser"...right?

I took this picture on my 20th birthday in London. I was living in Italy for the first time, and decided to take a weekend trip to England to celebrate my birthday with a few of my roommates. I loved the excitement of going to a city I dreamed of seeing most of my life! Maybe I watched too many Shakespearean plays when I was a teenager, or maybe it's some of my British blood vying for attention, but I love pretty much everything about the British culture. The wry humor, the varied accents, the Royal family. Smashing! When I was celebrating my ascent into my 20s, I was living so completely in the moment, convinced that weekend I would find a strapping British man who would insist that we marry immediately and soon have little babies running around the countryside yelling "Mummy! Mummy! Is it time for tea??" Uh...yeah...that was the kind of happy dream I had for the future! Hard to believe it didn't turn out that way, huh?

I  found the photo in London rather fitting for where I seem to be standing yet again in life.  It seems to be directing me to be conscious and  aware of the varied directions in life, while still living in the moment.  There's no problem lookin to the left and taking a glance at the past.  No big deal if I want to look right and consider my options for the future.  Sure, looking both ways has benefits and helps protect me from repeating mistakes or leaping into things too quickly.  But it's also really important to be standing in the present, aware of what I'm doing right now before I cross into the madness of the busy traffic I could call Life.