I’m 32 today.  32.  Not 22.  Not even 29.  I’m now uncomfortably into my 3os.  Oddly, I still feel like an awkward teenager most of the time.  I still feel like everyone knows more than me, and that I have a lot of growing up to do.  I feel like I’m just playing at being an adult, at owing a home, having a mortgage and investments.  And the baby, where the heck did he come from?

Sometimes I think that we should be tested as we get older.  If we fail to prove that we are responsible adults then we aren’t allowed to get older, drive a car or own a house.  We would have to stay teens until we could prove that we are smart enough to remember to take an umbrella on a day calling for rain, kind enough to give up seats on public transportation for the elderly, and intelligent enough to manage money well.  But, if that were the case, we would be a nation of teenagers, with hardly an adult in sight to set us straight.

Some days I am distressed by how young I still feel, by how different I am from what I think a person in their 30s should be.  I feel like I have so much growing up still to do, and so much to learn about responsible spending and how to interact with other people.  But there are days, most of them to tell the truth, where I am happy being me even if I come across as a bit silly and maybe even a bit immature for my age.

Besides being my birthday, today is also Mother’s Day.  (Go call your mom!)  It is my second one, and I’m still a bit resentful of it being so close to my birthday.  But I am blessed with the amazing Baby Man who I know loves his Mommy very much.  I can’t wait until he is old enough to make me a Mother’s Day card.  But until then, I’ll cherish every card his daddy “helps” him buy, and I know his grandma feels the same way about the cards he gives her. 🙂

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and grandmothers out there.  And happy birthday to all the May babies too.

I’ve spent the last couple of days listening to the radio instead of watching TV during the day.  Oddly, I’ve found that is has already made a bit of a change.  Mostly, I’m not so darn worried about the Swine Flu or the Global Economic Meltdown Crisis.  I think hearing a very condensed version of the news about once an hour, rather than the endless news offered on TV, sandwiched between lovely classical music makes everything much more pleasant.

OMG, 1 in 4 of us will get the Swine Flu according to the news!  Whaa!  Oh, but wait, this is a lovely and relax Mozart piece.  And so goes my day.  I’m hoping, also, that Baby Man is absorbing some culture by some sort of osmosis from all this radio listening.  Either that, or he is going to be able to put me in a very spiffy retirement home thanks to all the commercials they run during the day.

Seriously though, I think there is something to be said for removing yourself from the endless 24 hour news cycle on TV and the Internet.  Listening to the radio I learn the about the most important news stories, and I can choose to follow up with them online or not.  I can also tune out the news and just focus on the lovely music, something you can’t do when watching CNN or CBC Newsworld.  Why not turn off the TV for a little while this week and try the radio.