{"id":814,"date":"2017-09-30T22:58:23","date_gmt":"2017-09-30T22:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=814"},"modified":"2017-09-30T23:02:06","modified_gmt":"2017-09-30T23:02:06","slug":"an-open-letter-to-41-on-the-eve-of-my-42nd-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=814","title":{"rendered":"An Open Letter to 41, On the Eve of my 42nd Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dear 41,<\/p>\n<p>With 42 standing just outside the door, waiting for you to make your exit, there are a few things I need to tell you before we part ways forever.\u00a0 Before I can say good-bye, I want you to know how much our trip around the sun together has meant to me.<\/p>\n<p>We have seen a lot of good days, and some bad.\u00a0 We\u2019ve shared laughter and tears.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had our ups and downs, but that was all after you came roaring in last October while I was in the middle of my third semester of nursing school.\u00a0 We cried together when things were hard, but you also stayed by my side and saw me through to the end.\u00a0 We made it all the way through school together.\u00a0 You watched me graduate with honors and rise above my fears to be the student speaker at my graduation ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>We experienced so many adventures together.\u00a0 We traveled to NYC, Louisville, Columbus, Memphis, North Carolina, Kentucky Lakes, the mitten (twice), Chicago and more.\u00a0 We saw my Cubbies win the World Series-something I always hoped for, but never really believed I would see.\u00a0 We ran the St. Judes Marathon in December; running through the St. Judes campus hearing, \u201cThank you, Hero!\u201d from the parents and the kids we raised money for, was absolutely unforgettable.<\/p>\n<p>Traveling to NYC with the beau was amazing, spending a week at Kentucky Lake with the kids was full of laughs, we enjoyed a week at the beach with the Jacobs side and last but certainly not least, hiking to the top of a mountain in the Smokies where we got engaged to the love of my life!\u00a0 It has been quite a year.<\/p>\n<p>We started my very first nursing job, 41!\u00a0 And I could not be happier.\u00a0 I really love it!\u00a0 Working with a father\/daughter OB\/Gyn team is the perfect setting for me.\u00a0 I love the hope for the future that I get to witness on a daily basis.\u00a0 I have found my passion, my calling, my purpose.\u00a0 I was born for this, but you were the one who helped me figure that out.\u00a0 On any given day, my heart bursts with happiness and breaks wide open for the patients I am coming to know.\u00a0 All while wearing my dad\u2019s stethoscope around my neck.<\/p>\n<p>41, you were certainly not without frustrations, but we conquered things together and we made it.\u00a0 You have set things up for 42 to be something really special.\u00a0 Make no mistake about it, 41, you will always have a special place in my heart.\u00a0 You helped me come to a point of truly accepting that I am a work in progress.\u00a0 Not just saying those words, but owning them, believing them and embracing them.\u00a0 You helped me find my peace, 41, and for that I will be forever grateful.\u00a0 I know I\u2019m going to miss you and it\u2019s hard to let you go.\u00a0 Not because I am afraid of 42, or whatever lies beyond, but because of all you have done to make me who I am, the person who I am supposed to be.\u00a0 From the bottom of my heart, 41, thank you.\u00a0 Thank you for everything.<\/p>\n<p>All my love,<\/p>\n<p>RRG<\/p>\n<p>PS. Don\u2019t tell the others, but so far, you are hands down my favorite.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_816\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/FB_IMG_1506811150495.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-816\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-816\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/FB_IMG_1506811150495-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/FB_IMG_1506811150495-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/FB_IMG_1506811150495-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/FB_IMG_1506811150495.jpg 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-816\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">First Day of 41<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_815\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170930_153301.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-815\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-815\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170930_153301-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170930_153301-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170930_153301-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170930_153301-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170930_153301-624x468.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-815\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Last Day of 41<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear 41, With 42 standing just outside the door, waiting for you to make your exit, there are a few things I need to tell you before we part ways forever.\u00a0 Before I can say good-bye, I want you to know how much our trip around the sun together has meant to me. We have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-randomthoughts","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-d8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=814"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":818,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions\/818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}