September 5, 1976

Today is my 32nd birthday. Happy birthday to me! I thought I'd share some things I'm proud to have accomplished in my 32 years. My proudest achievement is my marriage and children. I have been proudly married for 11 years and we have had 3 children. They are truly my world. Being a stay at home mom has been more rewarding than any other job I could have done outside of the home. My boys have been well prepared for school from what I taught them while they were home with me for their first 5 years. Cassidy will be as well. We have sacrifcied a lot of material things in sacrificing an income all for the kids and me....I always wanted to stay home with them and wouldn't have missed it for the world. I'm grateful to Richard for seeing how important that was to me and agreeing with the decision for me to stay home. I'm also happy that I did at least start college, I may not have finished, but at least I had the experience. I wanted to be an attorney but that changed when I became a mom. My life isn't what I thought it would be when I was planning my life out in high school. I'd have graduated law school at 24 and wanted to get married after a few years of being a lawyer and have my first kid by 30. My life isn't what I planned, IT IS BETTER. I couldn't be more blessed. I met and married my first love, the love of my life. I've had a good 32 years, no major illnesses to speak of but I am clumsy. I've broken my foot twice and if I can manage to hit my head on something or hurt myself in the process of my day, I usually will! I have a great extended family too. Lots of cousins and aunts and uncles that I'm proud to have as family. My brother is the greatest. We have always been close and I'm so happy about that. I'm also extremely proud of the relationship I have with my parents. I'm close to both of them and cherish that relationship with them both very much. So thanks Mom and Dad for bringing me into this world 32 years ago at precisely 5:52pm!