I turn 30 tomorrow.

I’m actually rather okay with it. I have a lot of grey hairs and two kids, so it’s not like I have any illusions of youth, anyway.

But still, it feels like a milestone. The decade birthdays always do.

I actually can’t remember that much about my twentieth birthday, just that it felt like A Big Deal. My life was so chaotic at that time, things just kept changing and not always in a good way.

I think that’s the main reason why I’m actually looking forward to the big 3-0: my life is stable and boring and I’m in love with (almost) everything about it.

That’s not a popular thing to say, I know.

“Don’t you want to travel?”

“You want more kids? But they’re so expensive!”

“You ever think about going back to work?”

I have the kind of life that you usually see in media as the opening scene of a domestic thriller (except that I live in an old basement apartment rather than a mansion in suburbia, and don’t know how to do my hair in a sleek chignon, but nevermind).

The sort of life that 1960’s feminist Betty Friedan would have described when speaking about “the problem that has no name”.

In other words, I actually like being a housewife and mom.

I like re-arranging our closet. I like cooking dinner. I even mostly like doing dishes (I hate laundry, but doesn’t anyone sane?). I like being with my kids, enough that I homeschool them, meaning they’re here running around driving me crazy all the time.

My husband works to support our family, and I like that too. I don’t really have my “own money”, I guess, which is fine by me, since I have never once felt like I couldn’t buy a book or new shoes without asking first, or whatever. He’s the head of the household. We almost always agree on things eventually, but sometimes knowing there’s an authoritative tiebreaker vote helps a lot.

I’m free to pursue my writer dreams BECAUSE of the lifestyle we have.

I’ve always wanted to write. Forever. But when I was young and working all the time, I just didn’t have the energy. Don’t get me wrong, kids are a ton of work, too, as is taking care of a home, but at least I can work around them in the way that works best. I get up at 5 to write. I’m not sure I’d have that motivation if I knew I had to begin my commute at 630 to go to some job I hate.

I admire people who begin their author career while working. I seriously don’t think I could do it.

Anyway, I guess what I’m driving at is that though my “boring” “stable” life may indeed stop me from pursuing certain things, it is the most fertile ground I can think of for bringing my biggest dreams to fruition.

I’ve already achieved two of them: marry a great guy who loves God and have children. I’m living that. That’s the big stuff for me. My husband, son, and daughter don’t hold me back from my dreams.

They are my dream.

But the next big thing is becoming an author. And I am so, so, thankful that I have the time and the support I need to make that happen.

Here’s to a very boring decade ahead!

If the grey hair growth could chill, that would be great.