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
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”
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.”
