Dear Dr. Laura,
I enjoy listening to your show and even though I don't always agree with your not-so-humbled opinion, I appreciate the critical thinking I do when faced with your callers' dilemmas.
I have a few girlfriends who are thirty-something and they dread their birthdays because they feel their best days are behind them (even the ones married with children). I think this is so sad because at this point, a thirty-something woman should just have begun her journey as a successful, mature woman with her best days ahead.
Today is my birthday (yea! Go me!) I am 31 today and very happy about it. My goals for this age: be married to the right man and have a healthy baby. I'm glad to say that with hard work and endless dedication, I have accomplished these goals. I never settled for anything less than what I wanted and felt I deserved and I was lucky enough to find and marry a REAL MAN. My darling beloved husband is a RET. 1st SGT. USMC (OOOHH RAH!) and he is now a federal police officer. He has spent his entire adult life serving others and I have always admired that. He never settled and waited a long time to find the right woman to have his "perfect" (our idea of perfect) life with. We have been married for three years and together for five. We were blessed with our beautiful son on July 1st. He is strong, healthy, and literally the answer to our prayers over the last and difficult at times, year. He brings immeasurable joy to our whole family. Last year, I found I was pregnant around my birthday and didn't think anything could top that.
This morning, as I was nursing and rocking my son, my husband hugged and kissed us both, wished me a happy birthday, told me he loved me and left for work with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye, as he does each morning. He works very hard so I can stay home and be the full time mother my son needs me to be. I love and appreciate my husband for wanting happiness, a well rounded, grounded family and not insignificant material things. We don't have new cars or a big house but we have our health, life satisfaction, love and our children will be able to go to college. Most important to us is our family, quality of life, our love for each other, and our faith in G-d.
This morning, I was filled with joy and contentment, loving all that I have and happy to be where I am. I wanted to share this joy because my baby is asleep and the mood took me. Today is a celebration of all that I've been through and all the memories and adventures still to come. If only my thirty-something friends could open their eyes, never settle, wait for the right person not the next , "he'll do" person and be grateful for all they have, then maybe their next few birthdays will be wonderful in anticipation of the future and not dreading it instead. Here is to the blessing of today, and the hope for tomorrow, and appreciating that tomorrow is not a guarantee. Oh, he's awake, gotta go!
Sincerely,
A deeply satisfied, loved wife, mother and REAL woman
