Lesson #21: The Definition Of "Cool" Is Relative

I used to think that I was sooooo cool when I was younger! I still find myself to have a tinge of coolness left in me. I have worked in the bar industry and used to know everyone by name on a Saturday night. That is how one makes money, after all...by making friends. I have done my share of oratory contests - and won, I might add - in front of a panel of judges. When I was in second grade, my teacher swore I would be the first female President (move over Hilary!).

The fact is, I never really did think I was so cool. I would take home every book imaginable from school - beginning in first grade! First grade, people!! I should have been going out to play after school - not worrying about 4th grade math! Then in high school I was a cheerleader, but I wasn't considered one of the pretty girls. I never would have dreamed of becoming Homecoming Queen or being named Most Popular by the yearbook staff.

Sure I was a member of a sorority in college, but those girls were more like my family...which is funny because I don't talk to many of them anymore. I gave up cheerleading to pursue my degree and just get the heck out of school!! I was not only carrying MORE than a full course-load each semester, but also working a full-time job. I was in such a rush to grow up that I forgot to live my life for the moment. I was cool to the only person who mattered - me.

Now, as an "adult", I am still keeping the same jam-packed schedule. I have traded in a full-time class schedule for a full-time work schedule and a full-time work schedule for full-time mommyhood PLUS full-time wifeyhood PLUS full-time housekeeperhood PLUS...well, you get the picture.

Mingling in bars dressed in short skirts and crop tops to make a lousy buck has been replaced with dancing around in my bra and undies trying to make the babe laugh - mommy would even settle for a smile!

Where I was once staying up all night to cram for an exam...I am not staying up all night to rock the babe to sleep...not because she is fussy, but because I just don't want to put her down and miss a minute!

Days of attending frat parties and puffy paint parties (for those of you who don't know - this is where all attendees wear white t-shirts and draw on each other with various colors of the silly raised paint of fun) have been pushed aside with nights of cuddling on the couch with the man in front of a good movie or funny TV show.

The ones I thought were "cool" back in the day aren't as cool as I thought they were. As long as the babe is healthy and the man is fed - I am the "cool" one. Honestly...I wouldn't trade ANY of it for the world. I am truly blessed!