A YEAR OLDER, A LITTLE WISER ;-)

As my husband and I shall soon be celebrating our first year together, I am simply amazed at how much I have changed. How and what I love most about him are not what they were before. There is more depth to what we share. Speaking of celebrations, my first year of marriage has been a year of firsts. I recently had my first Birthday since I got married and relocated. My family is big on Birthdays so there were a few things I did miss. In essence, the whole day would be dedicated to celebrating your existence. They would usually wake me up singing Happy Birthday and finally give me presents they had been trying to hide from me for days. Each present signifying how well they knew me. As I grew older, at times they would wait until I at least stepped out of my room. I would get messages from as early as midnight, presents and phone calls through out the day from friends wanting to hang out. Then I would finally end the day by opening all the presents I had been too all over the place to open earlier or had saved as my “something to look forward to incase the day was a bust” LoL. My husband is not big on Birthdays, but having him around did save the day, and it didn’t hurt that he took me out to lunch. Mom had to call me on the phone later in the day to sing Happy Birthday which meant a lot. As has been the case for the passed couple of years, over half my eventful & widely spread out inner circle forgot haha. A few of them did try to make up for it in their own special ways. Although I enjoy celebrating my friends’ Birthdays more than mine, I was surprised at how emo I got over it this time. It made me realize just how much life has changed, and for the first time in a while, I really really missed them. I did try to be a big girl about it; while chanting “keep calm and blog about it” of course LoL. And after I had calmed down, I forgot to blog about it! Haha. Old? Who said that? I was half asleep when I started watching ZOOTOPIA the other night, but a couple of minutes into it propped me right up. The inspiring determination of a bunny whose ultimate dream had always been to “make the world a better place” by joining the Zootopia Police Department only to be given a clown vest, a three wheeled joke mobile and 48 hrs to prove her worth to her Chief and the rest of the world for that matter. Bullies and well meaning yet overly cautious parents trying to talk her out of pursuing her dream, the disappointment of a less than ideal “luxury” apartment for a graduate in the city, feeling like the smallest person in the room, being assigned menial tasks, as well as other universal concepts in the movie cater in my opinion to an especially broad audience. “It unfolds with so much wit, panache, and visual ingenuity that it outstrips many a more high-concept movie,” Christopher Orr. It was totally worth the wait. It’s not easy to pick a favorite scene, but if I have to, if I really have to ;-) it would be the moment the huge polar bear turned the swivel chair around to reveal the real Mr. “Big;” classic yet totally unexpected twist. No wait; it would be when Nick introduced Judy to Flash; the “fastest” sloth at the DMV. The look on Nick’s face was priceless as he unmistakably enjoyed Judy’s frustration. He summed up the entire message of the movie in these simple words, “Never let them see that they get to you.” If I could talk to my twenty one year old self, these are some of the things I would say; watch what you say. Your words are powerful and will shape your life whether you want them to or not. Get to know yourself. Focus on one or two of the things you are most good at. Scattering your best efforts in too many directions will yield nothing. Educate yourself. Don’t let fear rob you of opportunities to better yourself. Try. You may not always succeed, but neither shall you always fail. Stand up for yourself and don’t allow anyone to bully you. Learn to be OK with change. Don’t take your parents or your siblings for granted. Serve God right where you are; He put you there. Stay active and start eating healthy NOW and be committed to finish strong. No one ever tells you that your metabolism slows down once you hit 30. Married or not, eat well and keep moving!