35

I can't believe that I'm 35 years old today. None of my other birthdays have hit me quite like this one. I mean, 35 is practically 40. And 40 just sounds old. But I have plenty of friends in their 40s and beyond and I wouldn't ever consider them to be old. I think the thing that is really starting to hit me is that I'm not really where I had hoped/expected to be at this (dare I say it?) middle-aged stage of my life. Like so many women, I just assumed I'd meet Mr. Right a few years out of college and start a family soon after. But it hasn't quite worked out that way for me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm okay with where I am now. It's just different than what I had pictured so many years ago. I have an awesome family and great friends and I'm enjoying my fairly new job. I have a house, furbabies, and even a child on the way. Now don't go jumping to conclusions, folks! For those of you who may not be aware of the situation, I am in the middle of the adoption process so that my precious foster daughter can drop "foster" from her title. It's so crazy that things have played out the way they have. Never would I have imagined I would be a single adoptive mother. Who will be 49 years old at her daughter's high school graduation. Yikes!

I stopped trying to figure out when and how things would unfold in my life a long time ago and decided to just roll with it and enjoy the ride. So for the past few years, on my birthday I sit and wonder what's in store for me in the coming year. Travel? True love? Fortune? Intrigue? I know one thing, it's sure going to be hard to beat a surprise kid!