On turning…. *whispers* thirty.

Thirty.

It’s a big number. A scary number. An old number. In your twenties, you feel like you’re still a “twenty-something” – whether you’re 25 or 29-and-a-half, you’re still in a group with all those youthful, wild 21 year olds. You still feel a connection to the college days.

But when you hit that big three-zero number, suddenly you’re in different company. You’re in a category of people that is competing — to have better careers, more financial security, kids on a fast track to Ivy League.

Given that Kraut and I spent the vast majority of our twenties doing the child-rearing thing that many people aren’t starting till later these days…I sometimes feel like I missed out on some things. We never got to spend time together as newlyweds, or travel. Then again, we didn’t have any money to travel. Details.

However, this puts us at an advantage now. We’re just hitting thirty, and we’re 99% sure we’re done having kids. They’re getting old enough that we can send them for overnights at Grandma and Grandpa’s if we want to go somewhere for a short weekend. And we’re financially secure — with a home and two cars of our own. We have a happy, established marriage of over seven years. Friends come to us for relationship and parenting advice.

There are some things I’m looking forward to in my thirties. In the next ten years, our kids will grow…to the point that we’ll have a 17 year old, a 15 year old, and a 12 year old. It’s almost unfathomable. In the next ten years, I’ll hopefully finish my degree and become more established in my career. I’ll hopefully be able to continue in ballet and reach a new level of fitness in my adulthood. I’m looking forward to traveling with my family as well as hopefully some trips with just Kraut and I as a couple.

Looking at that list, I think my thirties could be pretty darn great. Comparing it to many women my age, I think I’ve got a lot going for me. I’ve got the pregnancy/newborn/infant stage of parenting behind me. Next fall, we’ll have two kids in school full time. I know that every stage of parenthood brings with it difficulties — homework and afterschool activities, puberty and teenage angst, driving and semi-adulthood, etc. I am just glad that I’m young enough to have the physical strength and energy to keep up with the kids. If I was just entering the pregnancy stage, I know it’d be harder on my body. Don’t get me wrong, many many women wait until later to have kids — and that’s totally fabulous — but my physical body wouldn’t have handled it nearly as well. There are things to be said for having kids later, like a far better financial foundation. But starting early has its perks, too.

In the past ten years, I reunited with Kraut and we were engaged and married. We had three fabulous kids. We struggled through career changes and moves, and eventually bought our home. We grew together into the adults we are now, and having the kids during such formative years of our lives I believe really changed us for the better. We learned how to be a team, how to be patient and supportive of our children, each other, and ourselves. If I had had to muddle through my twenties with only myself as a guide…I probably wouldn’t be nearly the person I am today.

My family is tight knit, and our parents are young enough to be able to truly get to know and enjoy their grandkids, and likewise the kids will be able to remember and enjoy time spent with their grandparents. I wish that my mom hadn’t passed away before she got to meet Kraut and see any of her grandbabies, but then again I’m glad we had the kids young enough that at least Seven and Five will remember their uncle, and there are plenty of pictures of Bubba with him as well.

My twenties were chaotic and insanely busy. There were plenty of struggles. Plenty of hard times. But I feel like the good outweighs the bad easily. And it set me up for a pretty fabulous time as a “thirty-something”.