54 - The New Thirty

Turning 30 was pretty traumatic. That's why I say I'm 29...in fact I've said it so often I've started to believe it! Or maybe I AM getting old and I can't remember my real age. Who would have thought it would come to this?

• 18 - Married
• 19 - 1st child
• 24 - Last child
• 30 - Children all in school
• 40 - 1st Child married
• 42 - Last child leaves for college
• 43 - 1st grandchild
• 45 - Last child married
• 45 - Leave for mission
• 48 - Return from mission
• 53 - All children have children - 12 grandchildren ages 7mo. to 10 years

Being a mother was consuming physically and emotionally. It was a time of great focus and purpose that sometimes seems lacking in my life now. The rewards of motherhood far outweigh the sacrifice, especially now that it is in the past to a large degree. The distance from those day to day pressures have given increased understanding to what eternal joy really means.

As parents, the goal of raising responsible, righteous, intelligent and independent children is an intense time of life. Dan and I were very blessed to have children with strong spirits talented in those (and many other) areas. There is a great sense of joy that for our feeble efforts the Lord rewarded us with remarkable children. If I can boast of any "accomplishment" in life it is them. They have been my education and my career. They now nurture their own children who are so precious and dear to me that words cannot express my love for them.

So now, at 54, where does that leave me? Sometimes I feel I need more purpose, more feeling of accomplishment doing something important. I hope that my "education" and "work experience" can have value. Then I realize, it does.

• 54 - Wife. Mother. Grandmother. Daughter of God.

I still have my whole life ahead of me.