Turning 40
The day I turned 39 I realized I had one more year in my 30’s. It hit me like a ton of bricks! An entire decade was ending! How could this be? I feel like I just turned 30 yesterday! I vividly remember sitting at a big table at Carrabbas with my family and friends to celebrate. I couldn’t have been happier (so I thought). I had married Seth in September, so I was 10 months into my marriage. To top that off, turning 30 gave me major baby fever! Seth wanted to have a few years just being married! My response to him was “do you know how old I am? No way!” We wanted a few kids and I was doing the math as to how old I would be having these kids! There I sat celebrating my 30th birthday two months pregnant with Max! I was over the moon excited to become a mom! I was doing a job I loved. I was married to a fabulous man. I was pregnant with my first baby! I was a happy woman! I knew my 30’s were going to be awesome!
Ten years later here I sit! I am currently sitting outside at my parents house. I am watching my brother, son and husband play basketball and our kids are running around playing! My brother and sister in law drove to town with my nephews for my big birthday! They have already made it a super special weekend for me just by being here!
I am thinking about turning 40, wondering how these past 10 years went so quickly? I had all of my babies in my 30’s! Max is now 9 years old, Ella is 7 and Lillie is 3! My 30’s were the busiest years of my life! Being a mom is the biggest, hardest, most wonderful career I have ever had in my lifetime!
The difference between turning 30 and turning 40 is a huge one for me! When I think about that 30 year old sitting there 10 years ago…..that lady was clueless! She was clueless as to how busy she was about to be. She was clueless as to how much she would learn and change becoming a mother. She was clueless as to the fact that she would love her husband a million times more ten years later. I will never forget the day Seth walked me to the bathroom after I had a baby. He was wiping up the blood behind me. No one told me how much you bleed after having a baby! That moment will forever stick out in my mind as I saw the love and concern on Seth’s face. I saw that cleaning up and helping me was a no brainer to him! Forget the diamonds and flowers through the years. It is the care and love that I treasure the most! Seth that doesn’t mean to stop buying me flowers and diamonds 😉
I hear all of my friends around me cringing at turning 40. I saw my friend’s post the other day on Facebook that her brother would be 40 the day she made that post. She wishes he had made it to 40! I am celebrating this birthday! I am happy to turn 40. Don’t be shocked! It feels like a badge of honor! It feels like I truly made it through ten years of motherhood and marriage doing a pretty good job at both! I am not gonna lie! I screw up every day! I get bitchy to my husband and I yell at my kids if they don’t listen. Every day I start over and try to do a better job! I am definitely mellowing with age! The hot head 30 year old is much more mellow! I yell less, I get upset less, I care less, I let a lot more go and I say less. I have learned a lot and I am excited to see what I learn in my 40’s. I have a strong feeling my 40’s are gonna be awesome!
I miss having babies but I certainly don’t feel like my kids need me any less. I feel like as they get older they will need me more and differently! Max came to me the other day and said “you are a social worker. I bet you can help me with this problem I am having!!” I almost fell over, and then I opened my ears and listened hard to my 9 year old who needed me! I would like to give you a little research data here! Kids get into the most trouble between the hours of 3-5pm while their parents are still at work! We should all make sure our kids have child care between those hours!! I am certainly gonna remember this piece of data as my children get older!
Tomorrow I party! My husband is calling it my sweet 16 birthday party! I didn’t want to stand in a restaurant drinking and eating. I don’t sit still or stand still often! I am gonna roller skate with my family and friends to celebrate and I am so excited! Yes, there will still be drinking and eating! I will let you know how this goes! I hope all of my girlfriends will wear age 40 with pride! I am definitely happy that at age 40 I still love putting on a pair of rollerblades!!
Happy 40th to me!!
