The day is finally here.

I’ve written about it a bit before.  Mostly about how my friend Melissa (who did my FABULOUS headshot pics here on the website) summed it up to be “touching down” on the age that finally feels right for me.  And if the past 24 hours of awesomeness and smiles and love from friends and whatnot is any indication, “touching down” on my 30th birthday is already shaping up to be pretty swell.

Some other friends have written great birthday/age wisdom post recently, and I totally don’t know that I would want to compete.  And the post that my sister wrote ABOUT me yesterday is so beautiful and poignant and wonderful and about a million other things that I feel like you should all just go read it instead of mine.

Photo Credit – Melissa Mullen Photography

I tried to figure out what I wanted to say and I kept thinking of stuff that other people have said.  Snippets of wisdom and pieces of advice left in books and movies and letters that left impressions and shaped me.  I want to share a few today in hopes that you will get yet one more glimpse behind the curtain to me and maybe glean some wisdom and advice from these words too.

~ I take the good with the bad – I can’t love people in slices My best friend/dorm roommate in college loved the movie First Knight and this line comes from it.  It’s so true and so often forgotten.  We only cling to and love the good parts of people, and hold the bad parts against them.  Why?  People are like puzzles, without all their pieces there are holes.  I try to remember to love the whole.

~ Doing one crazy thing might make you crazy, but who knows…it just might make you happy… In the name of transparency I must admit, this comes from an ABC Family channel movie with Melissa Joan Hart.  Don’t you dare judge!!!  But it’s just so true.  Crazy things just MAY mean we are crazy.  Not adventurous or bold or outside-the-box, we just might be plain-flat-out should-be-given-a-jacket-to-hug-ourselves-daily crazy.  And you know what?  If that’s what makes you happy, then hug away!

~ I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best. Ah, Marilyn Monroe, the woman oozed so many things.  And though I try to view everyone else in their whole rather than in their pieces, I frequently forget to do that for myself.  But the truth is there’s a worst and a best side to me.  And the people who matter in your life, they’ll be there for you through both.

~ To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment Oh Ralph Waldo Emerson, I think you and I would have been tight if I were alive two-hundred years ago.  Let’s face it.  There are always outside factors and pressures trying to conform you to be what they want/need.  It’s a constant struggle.  The true beauty and accomplishment lies in being who you are, and instead of struggling to be what everyone else wants you strive to be what YOU want to be.

~ You must be the change you want to see in the world Gandhi was just a wise wise dude.  This is one of my two favorites, the phrases you say over and over again in your head to remind yourself of your purpose on Earth.  We cannot expect others to create change.  We CAN work with others, but we cannot ask the world to bear the weight of deep and lasting change without participating ourselves.  It is our duty as human beings to leave the world better than it was when we came in.  So find your favorite and most passionate causes and start being instruments of change.  If you don’t who will?

And finally, my favorite.  No explanation, if you’ve learned anything about me you will understand why this is the phrase that I fall back on when I have lost direction or vision.  It’s often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, but many believe he didn’t come up with it.  I don’t care who did, I just know I’m eternally grateful that they chose to share it.

To laugh often and much
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends
To appreciate beauty
To find the best in others
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch
To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived
THIS is to have succeeded

I know that Twitter and blogging and Facebook are just crazy things that many of us do, but to me you are all a piece of my life.  These online tools have given us the ability to create relationships and connections that I cherish.  And judging by the flood of Tweets, Facebook wall posts, Text messages, phone calls and emails I’ve already received at 7:30 AM on my actual birthday DAY I am a VERY lucky and blessed and happy girl.

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