Hello, Im Normal!

I grew up in a pretty unstable household.  My teen years were a little rocky.  My twenties were spent making mistakes and learning from them.  In my thirties I found out that marriage and parenthood were not at all like they were on “thirtysomething”. (And I don’t mind saying I was a little pissed off about that!)  So I poured myself into my career and became all about making money.   In my forties that candle burned right out and I quit my high-paying job just in time for the economy to start bottoming out.

So, here I am, firmly entrenched in middle age, the Midwest, and the lower end of Middle Class.  I’m constantly surprised to find myself still married to the man of my dreams (see paragraph one; this was not the life model given to me) and the parent of a teenager.  Who knew back then that we would get through all of this?

I love reading about young women with fiery careers and wanton sex lives, whose income allows them to spend more on shoes than my first mortgage payment.  It makes me wistful.  But you know what?  That’s not my life; this is.

This is what normal looks like.

It took me a long time to get to the mainstream.  Why don’t you join me?  The water feels fine.