40

I guess a lot of people dread the idea of turning 40. I don't. I've been looking forward to it for several years now. I've seen so many of my friends enter their forties and looking at them and their lives, it seemed like a good place to park myself for 10 years.

The only downside to today is due to timing. It's not my mom's fault -- I was 3 weeks past my due date, mind you. But in addition to having my friends scattered and otherwise occupied during the Christmas holiday, working in global cash management at the end of the fiscal year stinks, quite frankly.

This year, my husband and co-workers made a special effort to mark the day for me, which was much appreciated. Jonathan is good about making sure that my birthday is not lost in the Christmas celebration, so he had a gift waiting for me downstairs before I left for work. I got a Lindt "intense orange" chocolate bar and a gift certificate for a massage. Later, he had a dozen roses delivered for me at the office. These are a few of my favorite things!

At the office, they arranged to get a Godiva Cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory (I dropped some major hints the past month) and we took a break in the afternoon to indulge in the chocolaty goodness. This was a perfect finale to my sushi lunch where I feasted on salmon rolls of various kinds.

The wind chill factor was something like 10 below so I didn't want to go out for dinner. Instead, Jonathan picked up an Uno's deep dish pizza, something I'm only allowing myself to have once during this pregnancy. So tonight was the night...mmmm was it good.

I don't really have a lot of big goals for this decade -- at least not concrete, measurable ones. In the very near term (3 months) I want to finish bearing children. I'd like to do a triathlon. Other than that, I think my goals are more on the abstract side. Not being shackled by over consciousness; learning to pause before blurting the first thing out of my mouth; expecting God to provide instead of worrying about the worse-case scenario playing over and over in my mind. Not that I think these things can be conquered, but just to see improvement and live more at peace, would be a great thing to experience in the coming years.

I'm not convinced this is the start of middle age for me as I have 3 out of 4 grandparents still alive (ages of 88 - 92) and the 4th died at 100. With the disease-resistant genes they gave me, coupled with a healthy lifestyle, I have a good shot of living into the triple digits. That wouldn't be so bad if I'm living a life that I love. I don't remember much of my first decade of life, but I can say that each succeeding one has been better and better. Here's to keeping the momentum going and embracing the adventure that lies ahead.

I'm looking forward to it!

Shelby