Three Decades Ago...

So, yes, I turned 30 years old yesterday. Still seems very strange to me. I am 30...what does that mean? Does this mean I am old? Am I still considered young? How might a 30 year old child act?
I have always had a very good memory. I can remember being in about 4th or 5th grade and looking at the young adults in my home church and thinking, "Man, they are so cool and also old. I'll never be like them." Oddly enough, I still feel that way. How can I classify myself as "middle-aged" when I can still remember the layout of my kindergarted classroom, still recall how proud I was to be allowed to walk to school for the first time without my parents (not alone, but with Courtney), still remember how nervous I was for my first cross country meet in junior high (no type-o there, it really was a junior high, not a middle school) and how old that school smelled and how much I loved being there. Am I really thirty? Can you be old if you don't feel old?
I was having a rough time during the approach to this day. Am I really who I want to be at this milestone in my life? Am I proud of what I've become? What do I have to show for thirty years of life? I'd joke and say,"well, the alternative is death, so I guess I'll be fine with turning 30." I realized later what a crappy attitude this was. My newly diagnosed case of pneumonia helped me to that realization. Now, I'm no hypochondriac, but I belive the Lord was saying to me, Erin, I really could let you go. Pneumonia does kill a lot of people and I don't in any way believe I have that kind of pneumonia, but it was a subtle reminder that my life really is but a vapor and I should be thankful for the blessed life I have been given and not crap up the occasion with sarcastic discontentment.
What is a life and how can it's value be measured? More specifically, what has my life consisted of and what value do I contribute to life as it is? This is what I am thinking of on the tailcoats of my by 3-0. (By the way, today is my husband's birthday so call him and tell him happy birthday) My wish is to be less sarcastic, more compassionate, and more disciplined. Keep me accountable to this all of you out in cyperspace.

Long time, no post

Hello to anyone bored enough to read my thoughts. It's been a good two weeks since I began this blog, and I've been hesitant to do a post without pictures, so I haven't. I have no new pictures because they're all on Zach's Mac. As I cannot even hook the DVD player up to the TV and get both sound and picture, I feel I have no right to even begin trying to transfer pictures from his Mac to my desktop. I hate not putting pictures with a post because I know how much I enjoy looking at everyone else's pictures.

Anyhoo..It's been busy for the Waters' lately (no duh! say the people who live near us) as it always seems to be. I just sat through 2 days of non-stop RD training and am turning around to begin training my RA's this weekend. Zach is fast-approaching Welcome Week, which is translated in our home as Week Without Daddy. I am so grateful that Zach loves his job enough to immerse himself in it sometimes, but I am (unfortunately) still too selfish to be grateful without being covetous of his time also (boo for me :(

On a strange segway away from my life, how 'bout the Olympics?!! I can't get enough of the swimming. It's so exciting. It reminds me of my sad days on swim team and how had I raced one of these guys I'd have been lapped nearly 10 times before I completed the race. I get a strangely knotted up feeling as I am watching the unfortunate few selected for the 400 meter individual medley. Have no doubt, I was not a fast or successful member of my swim team, but was still forced to do the IM and I couldn't get out of the pool without being drug out by my arms when I had finished the race. Funny what we (I) think about when our minds are allowed to wander.

So, I am also thinking about the possibility of being a teacher next fall, since I have the stinking degree to do so. With Zach more than likely going to seminary next fall, I'll be needing to be a sugar momma for a while. I just don't know who's going to hire a 30 year old teacher with a master's degree and not a day of post-graduation teaching experience. Hopefully, the Lord will be gracious to me despite the lack of experience.

What's up with the Waters?

Hello to all my friends! Is it wierd that I, Erin Waters, have now started my own blog? I think so, but here I am. After my sweet husband refused to allow me to post family whatnots and pictures on his blog, he told me that I needed to start a blog of my own. I'm really ok with this b/c I understand his need to have something of his own. Any of you who are parents can sympathize, I'm sure. Hopefully, I'll have something worthwhile posted on here soon.