Quarter of a Century

I have decided that it takes an entire week to celebrate my birthday. So although I am posting this on August 5 (incidentally my mom's birthday), I am dating it as August 1st, my birthday. And why not? After all, I am now one quarter of a century. Don't ask me the significance of this other than I feel it should be significant. Perhaps the turn is this is the age where I begin to fudge a little (translation: lie) about my age. There is some sort of dense reality at age 25.

As a child, 25 was the age of an adult, no different from 40. I assumed at this age that I would be married with children. But I still feel like a child. The falsehood of this feeling was pronounced today by a wise 6 year old, a neighbor's child playing on the beach. My mom, who is instantly friends with any child she meets, was playing around with her. After my mom walked into the water, I said, "You know, it's my mom's birthday today!"

Incredulously she stared at me, appraising me, then responded, "She's your mom?!" As if I were too old to have a mother. Just another adult. So here I am at 25, not a girl, not yet a woman (NO! Beat Britney back with a stick, suppress the urge to sing a really bad song!). Happily will I embrace this new age, however. I have long anticipated embracing my proper age, gracefully growing in years. Though it now surprises me that I begin to ponder that.

If this past glorious birthday week has been any indication of how this year will be, I am eager to meet it. There is too much to write now, but I promise to spectacularly bore you with details later. Jess was here, here being the cottage. I celebrated with family. And tomorrow after church I leave with my mom, grandma, and sister to meet Daane and Chad on the Appalachian trail. Yes, I will be a hiker. In the heat reaching over 100 degrees (which, for our Celsius friends, exceeds 38 degrees), they continued to hike nearly 30 miles (sigh... 48 kilometers) per day. So pardon me while I get my beauty sleep. Once again, I've been having too much fun to go to bed.

Lots of love,
Aub

P.S. To all who have emailed, I'm terribly sorry. I just haven't. I promise to do it later, when (gulp... if) I get time. Thank you so much to those of you who emailed me on my birthday. Major bonus points to you.