Cautiously Embracing the Big 4-0!

I remember being a kid and looking forward to my upcoming birthday.  In fact, watching my kids now, they always get excited when their birthdays are coming up.  They tell me what kind of party they'd like to have, where they want to have it and what the cake should have on it.  But, as this new year arrives, so does a major milestone birthday for me.  I will have been alive for four decades.  Yes, the big 4-0!  Not only does it make me wonder where the time went, but it also leaves me pondering exactly when it was that I stopped getting so excited about birthdays. 

Don't get me wrong, I know 40 isn't old by a long shot.  In many ways, I feel like I'm just coming into my own.  I'm comfortable in my skin.  I know who I am.  I know who my friends are and I don't feel any pressure to be someone I'm not.  There's a lot of power in being able to feel that way.  I am still young enough to exercise and have fun keeping up with my kids.  And I not only  have a job, but I enjoy it.  I have a roof over my head, stability in my life and a family that makes everything worth living.

Despite the tomboy days of my youth, I do like to get dressed up and I like to be a 'girly-girl' on occasion.  I admit that I'm a little vain about my own appearance so, over the past couple of years, I've gotten a little critical of the fine lines that have begun to form on my face.  I've plucked a gray hair or two from the top of my head.  And, getting back to those tomboy days, I do exercise a lot.  The only difference is, my bones and joints don't always cooperate the way they would have in my twenties.  I've had a few more doctor's visits over the past year alone for a broken foot, fractured shin and a knee issue.  

But, the bottom line is this.  I am who I am, it is what it is.  I've earned those fine lines and that gray hair.  That's the beauty of being 40.  If you asked me what I would want to change about my life I would say, absolutely nothing.  So, rather than resist it, I'm going to embrace it.  Maybe I'm looking forward to my birthday this year after all.