Thirty. I survived. I feel this birthday has more expectation placed on it than any other. Does anyone else feel that? When I pictured myself at thirty I imagined being married and having at least one child. I imagined spending a warm, sunny weekend at the beach with friends. HA! Nope. I allowed myself to have a girly cry for 30 seconds then came to the realization that it was okay. I was okay. God’s plan for me is better than I could imagine, even when I struggle to understand His timing. I am thankful for my family, my boyfriend, my friends, my job, and I’m learning to be thankful for things delayed.
Cut to my actual thirtieth birthday – my boyfriend was on the road, it was forty degrees and raining, and dear friends from work took me out to lunch at Fido after walking a 5K, in said rain and cold, while people threw painted cornstarch at me. And yes, with some coaxing from my friends, I had signed up for that. The morning started off with some lovely GI distress, which meant walking most of a race I had trained for. I hadn’t eaten because the past few days had not been kind. I talked with a dietitian this week about avoiding whey vs lactose in general and after an intake/symptom review we decided that the issue is most likely lactose. Dang it. I love(d) cheese. Anywho, back to the 5k. My friends were incredibly sweet and walked with me. The color stations were swirling dust storms of purple, yellow, green, pink and blue. I had a bandana over my mouth and nose and wore a hat and jacket. Let me stress to you – for someone who doesn’t like to get dirty this was not enough. I needed a HAZMAT suit or at least a beekeepers hat/veil. Maybe I would have looked more ridiculous than my fellow “color runners” but flying paint and inhaling foreign substances freak me out. On the plus side the course went through downtown Nashville and we took advantage of some fun photo ops.
When the boyfriend got back in town he brought me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers and a book that I’d had been wanting to read. Y’all. He even had the florist change out the pink ribbon for a neutral linen one. He knows me well. We went to Cork & Cow in quaint downtown Franklin for yummy dinner then went to see Noah. Did any of you see it? I liked it. It was entertaining and thought provoking. In fact, much of the car ride home was spent in pensive silence until we began comparing it with what we remembered the Biblical account to be. It was a dark film. And rightly so. The world was so corrupt and wicked that God regretted creating the human race and the animals. I mean, whoa. God regretted creating mankind! (It’s in the Bible, folks). Yet Noah “found favor” in God’s eyes and the Creator saved mankind through Noah and his family along with two of every kind of living creature. Yes, there were Hollywood storytelling deviations from the biblical account in the film but to know the specifics I had to go back and read Genesis 1-9. I encourage you to do the same. The writers also used artistic license to fill in some gaps. Could God have spoken to Noah in a dream? It’s possible. So before someone condemns or boycotts the film I hope they can see it for what it actually is – man’s creative attempt to flesh out the creation-flood story and what Noah’s days may have looked like prior to, during, and after the flood in an entertaining and Hollywood blockbuster way. Audrey Assad, a Nashville based talented artist, with whom the boyfriend has had the privilege to play drums for occasionally and shared the road with, had a similar impression of the film and described it brilliantly here. She also includes an interesting perspective on Genesis and the Bible. It’s a good read. Plug – you should check out her latest album, Fortunate Fall.
All in all, turning thirty included time with friends, exercise, a date with my boyfriend, two delicious local restaurants, spending time in the Word and beautiful gifts. What more could a girl ask for?
More to come on matters of the heart in my next post. Stay tuned!
clean and curvy 