By the time I was about 5 years old, people began to guess my age as younger than I actually was. This frequently drove me crazy, particularly during my teens and twenties. During my teenage years it drove me nuts because people would treat me like a kid. During my twenties it drove me batty because no one would take me seriously unless they managed to take a little time to talk to me. Always, always, I would be told, “You are gonna love looking younger some day!”

Well, now is that someday! This year I turned 40, and no joke, just last week I was mistaken for being twenty, not just once, but twice in the same day! Not such a bad feeling anymore. But it took time to get here. And just like it took time for me to appreciate the fact that I look younger than my revolutions around the sun actually add up to, it also took time and living with my eyes wide open to the world around me for me to begin to understand where I fit in this world, and how we all fit together. This world is a better place to live when I can see the beauty around me. It is a better place to live when I look for ways to learn from the people I encounter. It is a better place to live when I can engage in the hard and sad times, knowing that it is ok to feel hard feelings, and that eventually I will come out the other side stronger. And it is a better place to live when I decide to be ok with being me.

This is my space to remember what I’ve learned as I live my everyday life. Sometimes my days are full of exciting adventures, but most of the time it is just normal life. Whatever my day may look like, my hope is to rest my head on my pillow at the end of the day knowing that whatever the day held I was able to Love Big, Love Always, Love Anyway.