My Next 40 Years

I think I'll take a moment
to celebrate my age
The ending of an era
and the turning of a page

Now it's time to focus in
on where I go from here
Lord have mercy
on my next 40 years

Okay, so I took some liberties with the song and changed the last line from 30 to 40, but I feel like turning 40 is much more significant than when I turned 30. I loved turning 30. In my 20's I was way too concerned about what others thought, and I wasted a lot of my and others time and energy. But by 30 I think I pretty much had my act together. I looked and felt the best I ever had, I was running 5k and 10k races and was in great shape. We had just moved into our new house and I was working at a job that I enjoyed and was really good at. Life couldn't have been better. Well, life did get better (and different) with the arrival of Sam by the end of that year, and Ryan two years later. So my entire 30's decade has pretty much been dedicated to raising these two helpless little babies into the great boys that they are today. I no longer run races, just 30 minutes on the treadmill. I now work for my husband, and listen to men talk all day about things that I have absolutely no knowledge about or interest in. And that new house, well, it is starting to show its age. But at the end of it all, Life is still good.

So I greet the arrival of my 40's with a little trepidation and a lot of excitement. There are the shallow and petty things...like I would really like to get botox and I'm not entirely sure if I should still wear a two piece bathing suit. I'm almost positive the days of getting carded are over forever. When I play with the boys, sometimes I need to take Motrin the next day, and I'm pretty sure that I have bursitis in my hip. When did that happen??? But I'm excited that I now get to watch my boys grow into young men. They are now old enough that we get to take them on great trips, and we can experience some of what life has to offer along with them. Hopefully the economy turns around soon so that we can continue to afford what life has to offer. And one bonus to my continuing to age is that they continue to age right along with me, and this offers me more TIME. I think back to before I had kids and laugh at myself that I ever thought I was busy. I know one of these days they won't want to hang out with me and I will probably be sad, but right now Ryan is so stuck to me that day is hard to imagine. So I really feel like this is the beginning of the second half of my life, and I'm going to focus this half on enjoying myself and those I love!