Party of One

My 40th birthday is coming up next week. On my 39th birthday, I declared this "Year 40" and put together a list of things that I wanted to accomplish this year. I have accomplished a number them, others, not yet, and still others are ongoing projects (if I may call "get to the gym 5x a week" a "project").

I had planned to have a big YEAR 40 BIRTHDAY BASH (in all caps), invite a buncha people, dress up, and be the belle of the ball. The closer I get to my birthday, however, the less I feel like doing that.  I already talk to/ keep in touch with/ spend time with the important people in my life, and they will call, sing, and text "Happy Birthday", a few will give me gifts, and/ or take me out. I don't feel like planning, nor deciding whom to invite nor do I want to appear to be pandering for gifts from people I may not have seen or talked to in awhile.  I could do a "Donate to Charity in Honor of MY BIRTHDAY" sorta thing, but... eh.  Don't think that should really be associated with my birthday.  My birthday is important to me, and maybe my mother, but it's really not all-caps GRAND to anyone else.

Still, I feel the need to commemorate "year 40" (all lowercase). To mark it as a milestone, take stock of my life, and map out how I want to live the next 40... though I'm sure God will have a good laugh, since there's no way in the world I could have mapped out the first 40.

Not sure what I will do, and I'm open to suggestions that don't involve anything that will put me at high risk for bodily injury.

It's been said that a woman who will tell her age will tell anything. I disagree. I am no more "embarrassed" about leaving my 30s, than I was about leaving my teens. Getting here is a blessing, because a lot of people didn't make it. Heck I haven't even made it just yet (fingers crossed), but each day is a privilege, and to lie or deny, to me, feels like ungratefulness. The village needs elders, and Hollywood needs people to play old-people roles... I'll have my hand raised.

Now I just need to get myself back to yoga because these old joints sure don't work like they used to. 5 days a week, right? Oh, boy... I'd better get moving.

XO

--Nicole