40 Years of being awesome
I am turning 40 this week.
It is so strange that at one time 40 sounded SO OLD. I don’t feel old at all.
Sure, some days I will wake up and something will hurt for no reason – but it goes away. If I sit on the floor wrapping Christmas presents, when I get up, the first few steps away are still basically bent half over and gradually rising like a human evolution poster- but once I am upright, I can bounce right up the stairs. I am working as a guide as a zipline – a job I did when I was 20! I don’t have any grey hair yet, and I think the only lines on my face- between my brows- have been there a good long time (Thanks for that hereditary gem Grandma Thullen 😊). I feel stronger and fitter than I think I ever have and I also have a bit of knowledge and experience now.
I have a few memories of years 0-10, but photo albums spark more. I know I absolutely LOVED family parties and hanging out with my cousins. Aunt Janet & Uncle Jim’s house on Powderhorn had a closet we could use as a clubhouse during their poker games. Every Thanksgiving spent in Tennessee with Aunt Leah & Uncle Dick and my favorite cousin Sarah. Thullen Christmases in Springfield, Christmas Eve at Granny’s & Aunt Pegs; Camping at East Fork and Mineral Springs; changing my clothes so many times that the drawers would be empty by the end of the day- and my outfits never, ever matched. Every October we got a week at St. Pete Beach- searching for Shark’s teeth, playing with rafts in the waves and going to the Japanese Restaurant with all our adopted Grandparents - somehow all the men were named Jim.
By ages 11-15 - I was gaining more independence in what would be most people’s “middle school years” but Forrest Hills kids didn’t have middle school. Elementary went to 6th grade where we RULED the school, then high school started in 7th at the bottom of the totem pole with 5 grades above us. Classes on the the 7th floor and the basement, alternatively. My first failed test (Geography, still not great at that!) and first failed class (English - Longer story, but the moral is I can learn definitions without writing them down, lol). It was this time period that I made all my real life long best friends. The kind that any amount of time can pass, but as soon as we are together again, it is as if no time has passed at all. The friends that I think about every single day, even if I only speak to them once a year.
From ages 16-31 - all those years just run together now. Once I got my driver’s license, I began living in my own world. I got a job, went away to college, and started traveling. I went to Hawaii, DC, Chicago. Began a 7 year career as a Flight Attendant and got to take my mom to Europe twice. Made some more great friends and started attending childhood friends’ weddings. My sister had 2 children, my friends & cousins started having kids - it all ran by so fast. Then I met my husband, and my real life started.
I don’t usually care about birthdays. I am pretty sure years 31-39 went by mostly with a nice dinner with my husband and a card from Mom & Dad – but this year I wanted to do something special. 40 is a milestone and I wanted to celebrate how great I feel at this age. Plan A was a bunch of my closest friends who will also turn 40 this year, decided we would take a group vacation – away from children and husbands and just be girls together again. Then Covid dashed so many hopes, lives were thrown into chaos and no one felt they could commit to a trip this year. For Plan B, I thought maybe I could celebrate my birthday with a couples weekend with close friends, playing games and eating junk, but sadly, this plan too could not work out – so we rescheduled.
I am sure I will still get my Celebration eventually, but for now, 40 will pass quietly, just like 31-39, with a decadent dinner with my love – and that is just fine by me. 💖