Amanda Carrasco

This November I will be 35. It seems to be that any birthday that ends in a 5 or 0 is a bit more significant, and increasingly so the higher they get. Like we really need to celebrate that your still here.

I am noticing a lot of changes in me.

In some instances, with the right setting, I will enjoy beets. I can now eat cottage cheese. Both of these were absolutely revolting to the sight or smell when I was younger and never, ever could conceive that there would come a time that I would voluntarily put them in my mouth, let alone enjoy them.

I have never been one too prone to dye my hair, unless it was purple, but there are more and more grey hairs growing from my head. I am calling them “natures highlights.” For the most part I leave them be, but in full disclosure, there are times when I yank one or two(or more),

I have come to really enjoy a good nap.

I can tell the difference between dollar store chocolate and good quality chocolate.

These are ways I feel I have embraced the clock that refuses to alter or slow, but there are ways I have decided to defy it in full out rebellion.

I wear skinny jeans.

I get on the field with Pro Football players.

I put on a helmet and stepped on a skateboard to encourage my kid.

I am going indoor go carting for my birthday.

I listen to top 40 music rather than stations that play music that “takes me back.”

I hang out with people younger than me, sometimes lots younger.

There is a saying about growing old gracefully and in some ways I do want to do that. I have never been shy about saying my true age or needing to disguise it by saying things like, “I have been 28 for 7 years now.”

But there is also this part of me that says, why do I have to accept the stereotypes of getting older and slowing down? I have never been one for stereotypes so really it’s no surprise here that I am rebelling against this one too.

I may be getting wiser though. I used to make a lot of decisions with my heart only and not my head. Don’t get me wrong I still usually leap before I look, but the leaps I take are more often being processed through both my head and my heart. It’s an important balance.

I want to be able to harness the wisdom that comes with experience while not losing the adventurousness that comes with youth.

I want to live everyday that I am alive. It’s just too short not to.