In My Thirties

By
Rebecca Autin
-

Two months ago, I turned thirty-one.

For me, this birthday is more monumental than thirty. And I think I just figured out why — thanks to Ben Rector. 

We have been big Ben Rector fans for a while now. His song “White Dress” is our wedding video song. The intro to the song still brings tears to my eyes (click here). 

But today, I listened to Rector’s new song — Kids. 

These are the lyrics that got me:

“All you got to do is blink your eyes and the years go by like that
They fly right past
I don’t want to wait to realize everything that you and I
Already have

Five-thirty in the mornin’, and we’re awake again
You are holdin’ baby Jane
I lean in to take a picture, when it hits me
In twenty years, I will look back and say
 
We were kids back then, thinkin’ we would live forever
We were kids back then
We’re so young and free, takin’ all the world together
We were kids back then
That’s how we’re always gonna be”
 
So here is why thirty-one has been bigger — way bigger — than thirty. 
 
I am not just thirty anymore. I am in my thirties. Just like I was in my twenties. And those glorious learning filled years are gone and I have Chatbooks to prove it. And while I think we enjoyed the absolute heck out of our twenties, I think it took turning thirty and closing the door on our twenties to realize how great they really were, how much we really learned, and how blessed we are. I do not want to turn 40 just to realize how great my thirties were.
 
These are the days. It’s young kids and date nights. It’s “this is what we have created for us and now its time to enjoy it.” 
 
I know with all that I am that we will look back at this time with the fullest hearts. It is time to hurry up and slow down. Ring the joy out of the days … even the hard ones. 
 
“Because I do not want to wait and realize everything you and I already have.” 
Rebecca Autin
Rebecca Autin
Rebecca is an attorney by day and a toddler wrangler by night. She is a product of divorced parents and grew up in both Thibodaux and Franklin, Louisiana. Rebecca attended Loyola University of New Orleans and Southern University Law Center. Rebecca married her high school bestie in 2012. Quinton and Rebecca went through months of infertility before giving birth to Maxwell Lincoln in 2015. In 2016, they were surprised by a baby boy due in June 2017. But, in February 2017, they suffered with incompetent cervix and delivered sweet Theodore Paul too soon. In October 2018, after an incredibly difficult pregnancy, a cerclage, and a whole bunch of bedrest, Fitzgerald Joseph was born -- a happy, healthy, and perfect rainbow. If you can't find Rebecca, you can summon her with pot of freshly brewed coffee or look for her in Target or behind the kitchen island where she is hiding from her kids with a very generous pour of red.
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