The Harrell Family: Mel's 30th Bday

Well, the big day has officially come and gone. Already I've been asked how it feels to be 30. Truthfully, not much different than it did when I turned 21 (which somehow depresses me when I really think about it) - lol. My biggest regret about turning 30 is that I've concentrated so much of my adult life on growing up too fast and dealing with adult concerns way before my time, that I completely lost out on the plethora of opportunities that were before me while still in my "prime". But nevertheless, life's difficult roads have led me to where I am to today, and for that I am still grateful.

Birthday weekend was wonderful. The weather was gorgeous and it made me thankful to have been born in such a beautiful month of the year! My mom and her sweet puppy dog (Cupcake) came to visit :) Chris threw in a few surprises for me as well :) The biggest surprise, I have to say, came from my sweet friend/co-worker, Kelly Norris. To my extreme shock and awe, Kelly gave me a KitchenAid standing mixer for my birthday!!! Dumbfounded does not even begin to describe how I felt when I unwrapped that box! Sheer generosity just oozes out of that girl and I am extremely blessed just to know her! But to give a gift like that is truly above and beyond and I don't even know how to go about thanking her for such a gift. To help get the juices flowing, however, I did make my first batch of homemade Strong Family chocolate chip and pecan cookies with my new mixer (just for Kelly) . . . and they were amazing! Chris said it was the best batch I've ever made!

But the very best moments of my 30th bday came from 2 very special people. First, my mom. It's been a difficult year for us all and the passing of my dad is still a very large and very real hurt that we are all trying to heal from a little more each day. With that in mind, while at my celebratory dinner on Saturday night, my mom hands me a gift wrapped box. Not really having any clue what it could be, I gingerly opened the box and found a small, black velvet drawstring bag inside. I loosened the strings and pulled out a gold chain and a gold cross. At first all I could see was that the chain was broken. And then I took a good look at the cross and realized that that cross necklace belonged to my dad when he was much younger. It had broken so many years ago and he stopped wearing it. But now I had the opportunity to weld it back together again and bring it back to life. So many thoughts ran through my mind in that moment and it was terribly hard not to start crying right there in front of God and everybody. So I kept my composure but made a mental note that that moment was what would make my 30th birthday memorable for the rest of my life. Secondly, there's my precious husband, Chris. After 8 years of marriage, Chris understands that for me, it's not the money spent or the number of gifts bought (although I DO love presents!), it's the little things that come straight for the heart that matter most to me. There have been times in our life together when we have felt very estranged b/c other obligations have kept us from spending as much time together as we would have liked. Therefore I always tell him that the gifts I love most are the cards he gives me b/c he always writes the most beautiful, heartfelt messages inside - a gift that shows me how much time he takes to leave everything else behind for a little while and focus solely on me. So this year, for my 30th birthday, my overly-creative and oh so thoughtful husband made me the most wonderful card (one that I'll have with me for the rest of my life)! He spent 3 days working on it! It's ginormous too! Easily 3 feet tall! He made it out of foam board and all the craft supplies you can possibly imagine (lol). My spare room upstairs is littered with paints, scissors, ribbons, markers, glue, stamps, etc . . . but it's so worth it! I just LOVE it! Now, the question is, where am I going to put it?! I could leave it on display for a while, but it's gotta go somewhere eventually (lol).

All in all, my birthday was lovely and I realized just how fortunate I am to be surrounded by people in my life who love me uconditionally, know me wholly, and value time spent together more than dollars spent.

Here are a few snapshots of my 30th birthday:

My very own KitchenAid mixer! Wowzers!

my surprise ice cream birthday cake. The guy at Baskin Robbins wrote "31" instead of "30" - it was quite a revelation to discover I had aged another year already (lol)