As I am recovering from yet another friend's truly Fabulous Forty Birthday celebration last weekend I am wondering...what is it that makes "40" such a significant year?
Some people FEAR the age of forty as it is signal that they have (statistically speaking anyway) fewer days ahead of them than they have behind them. 40 also seems to be the time that you are truly become an "ADULT" you may be able to claim that earlier but by the time you are 40 people don't even put the young in front of the adult...you are quite simply GROWN!! With the achievement of the 4th decade, there is also the big fear that your days of youthful indescretion lie behind you. You have responsibilities...you need to start thinking (seriously) about 401Ks, pensions and the likely lack of social security checks for our generation. And if you have a family you are likely dealing with impending adolescence of your kids and (UGH) figuring out how you will pay for their college education. There are mortgages (maybe at this point of a multiple nature), a mountain of bills and worry on every hand.
To me this is not a bad thing. I have always felt like an "old soul" trapped in a younger body so I actually look forward to my chronologic age catching up with my spiritual and emotional age. Forty to me is fabulous because it is when you reach that level of comfort with yourself and your relationship to the world around you. By 40 you hopefully have:
- figured out who your REAL friends are.
- found a spiritual center
- made peace with your parents and your childhood (however happy or unhappy they were)
- made a BUNCH of mistakes
- recovered from said mistakes and realized that is how you learn
- Been in Love!
- had your heart broken
- experienced great loss
- experienced an amazing accomplishment
- laughed until you peed
- been somewhere amazing that took your breath away
I have had many of the experiences above...and in this last year as I march up towards 40 I want to figure out what experiences I want and how I want my life to be going forward. Unlike a lot of my friends I am truly looking forward to being fabulous and 40...I feel it will be the birth of the real me!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Happy Birthday to me!
Yes, I am enjoying the last few minutes of my 39th birthday.
39!!....but not 40 like the majority of my friends celebrated this year.
Despite being a proud member of the St. Ignatius College Prep class of '87 and Princeton class of '91. I was not born in the "summer of Love" (although likely conceived shortly thereafter). Thanks to my general smart-aleck nature and a decent dose of genetic smarts I skipped a grade many moons ago so for my whole academic life I have been at least a year younger than the majority of my classmates and friends. This was mostly an embarassment and something I hid...I didn't have a sweet sixteen party because I didn't want to call attention to the fact I was younger and of course everyone had already had these fabluous parties the year before. I didn't get a driver's license until senior year despite having taken driver's ed my sophomore year. I was not allowed to offically date until senior year why because it was the ironclad rule in my house growing up that you couldn't date (or wear makeup for that matter) until you were 16....although I managed to skirt this rule to go to Junior Ring Dance. Didn't vote in an election until my sophmore year in college and of course managed to have a college diploma and still be several months shy of legal drinking age. Being able to tell people I finished college at 20 makes me seem like a genius... even if it is more of a fluke than anything else. The bottom line is that over the years my age (relative to my peers) has been both a blessing and a curse...something to be sad about and bemoan when it prevented me from doing something and also something that I thought was extremely cool.
Well this blog is about that. I have watched all my friends this year reasses their lives as they approach the 40 milestone. I even had one friend who suffered a fatal attack on her 40th birthday and subsequently passed away a few days later. I count it as a blessing to have a whole year to think about turning 40 not to mention it is nice to have a whole year to plan a party. So this blog is my birthday gift to myself...a way to chronicle how I change this year...what goals I want to set for myself...what plans I want to institute going forward. I am looking forward to the second half of my life being even more amazing than the first and to go on an amazing journey you've gotta have a plan...or at least think about it long enough so that the path become clear.
Join me in my year of exploration!!
39!!....but not 40 like the majority of my friends celebrated this year.
Despite being a proud member of the St. Ignatius College Prep class of '87 and Princeton class of '91. I was not born in the "summer of Love" (although likely conceived shortly thereafter). Thanks to my general smart-aleck nature and a decent dose of genetic smarts I skipped a grade many moons ago so for my whole academic life I have been at least a year younger than the majority of my classmates and friends. This was mostly an embarassment and something I hid...I didn't have a sweet sixteen party because I didn't want to call attention to the fact I was younger and of course everyone had already had these fabluous parties the year before. I didn't get a driver's license until senior year despite having taken driver's ed my sophomore year. I was not allowed to offically date until senior year why because it was the ironclad rule in my house growing up that you couldn't date (or wear makeup for that matter) until you were 16....although I managed to skirt this rule to go to Junior Ring Dance. Didn't vote in an election until my sophmore year in college and of course managed to have a college diploma and still be several months shy of legal drinking age. Being able to tell people I finished college at 20 makes me seem like a genius... even if it is more of a fluke than anything else. The bottom line is that over the years my age (relative to my peers) has been both a blessing and a curse...something to be sad about and bemoan when it prevented me from doing something and also something that I thought was extremely cool.
Well this blog is about that. I have watched all my friends this year reasses their lives as they approach the 40 milestone. I even had one friend who suffered a fatal attack on her 40th birthday and subsequently passed away a few days later. I count it as a blessing to have a whole year to think about turning 40 not to mention it is nice to have a whole year to plan a party. So this blog is my birthday gift to myself...a way to chronicle how I change this year...what goals I want to set for myself...what plans I want to institute going forward. I am looking forward to the second half of my life being even more amazing than the first and to go on an amazing journey you've gotta have a plan...or at least think about it long enough so that the path become clear.
Join me in my year of exploration!!
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