Have I Finally Grown Up?

When I turned 30 my expectation was that I would reach full maturity and sophistication. You know, like a piece of fruit that you bought a little green that suddenly becomes ripe overnight sitting on the counter.

Turns out that never happened. I mean, it didn't feel like it happened. Although friends would say I'm really quite mature, what do they know because most of them are younger than me anyway.

All through my 30's I kept waiting for some sign that indicated I was grown up. I bought a house. I bought a car. I invested in stocks, mutual funds and 401k's. I took trips overseas and stayed in fancy hotels. I was promoted a few times at work. I had a long, stable relationship with a guy and we eventually married. We had a baby. Was I mature yet?

If I had asked myself that at 39 my answer would've been, "Almost." Now I'm 40 and sliding towards 41. The answer at this very moment is, "Yes, I'm really grown up."

You're probably thinking I'm either going through menopause or my birthday is coming up. Neither is true! What prompted this is I'm planning my daughter's 2nd birthday next month. Two whole years of baby goodness have gone by really fast. And in those two years I've finally felt like, well, a grown up woman. It hit me the other day - I'm planning a huge birthday party for my child. How mature that sounds. Wow. Being a mom does weird things like that to you.

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones sums it up the best, "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage." And my odometer has seen a lot of miles racked up lately.

BTW. That's the Skating Sweater in size medium from Twinkle's Big City Knits. I used Muench Big Baby and the whole sweater took less than a week, even with my hectic schedule. When I was knitting the thing, it looked like it would never fit - the piece was like large tube - but the yarn stretches and is form-fitting. I chose Big Baby because it was in my stash, but poor Karalyn was gipped out of a baby blanket.

Trumpets please! After a couple of years sitting in my WIP basket, Wiggles and Waves is finally finished. This pattern is from Blue Moon Fiber Arts and uses 2 different Sock Candy yarns. This project has been around so long, I don't have the yarn ball bands anymore. I knit with needles one size larger than called for. I paid for that mistake because I ran out of the blue variegate to make long sleeves. And I couldn't find the yarn anymore. But it's done and Karalyn will wear it either this summer or next. Woohoo!