Proof Positive on Turning 40-Years-Old!

As I enter my fourth decade of life there is a little trepidation, but mostly just gratitude. I am serious. I always thought I would be a little sad about turning forty, but after spending my 39th year in a pandemic there is definitely a feeling of “Bring It On!”. 

There are many negatives a person can harp about in life, which is why I am writing this piece. I am 40 and instead of focusing on the bad, I will look to the good. My anal retentiveness loves to make lists, so do not worry about me losing track of my forty positive things. No matter if I am 4-years-old, 40-years-old, or even 104-years old, it seems my organized nature knows no bounds.

Criticism can be so loud. It often drowns out the quiet and optimistic majority. But not today and not for me. Sure it would be easy to turn forty and let the dark circles under my eyes and large pores take precedent. However, my laugh lines and warm memories are a way better focus. 

So here goes, 40 wonderful things about turning (gulp) 40!

Top of the List: Family

So much of my identity is wrapped up in my kids (#1, #2, #3, and #4). While 29-year-old me would maybe cringe that my career often takes a backseat to volunteer coaching and bedtime snuggles, forty-year old me is happy to give my heart to the little people that make me feel so good about what I do with my life. 

There’s also my husband (#5) who met me when I was an immature 19-year-old and is still willing to switch me restaurant meals when he orders better. My parents (#6, #7), my brothers (#8, #9), my in-laws (#10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15), my niece (#16), and my nephews (#17, #18, #19) are the family that I inherited by birthright and marriage, but they are also the ones I would choose because family is everything.

I Would Be Lost Without Friends Too Though

Friendships are what keep me going during rough times. I am fortunate to have childhood friends (#20) that I still chat with and college friends (#21) who get coerced into costume parties with me during non-pandemic times. There are also my mom friends (#22) who nod along as a I rant about being the only person in my household capable of finding lost items. 

I love my church friends (#23) who make following faith easier and carpool friends (#24) who enable me to be in four places at one time. Neighbors (#25), co-workers (#26), and the familiar masked faces at the local coffee shop (#27) help me know that I am never alone in life.

Extended Family

Remember above when I wrote the cliche that family is everything? Well I really meant it. Families can drive us all a little nuts, but it is because of a familiarity that no other can replicate. 

Extended family members are the people who designated me to sit at the kid’s table for gatherings. Or they tapped me to read at their wedding when I still had braces on my teeth. And years later, as my smile turns crooked because I lost my retainer in my twenties, my aunts (#24), my uncles (#25), my cousins (#26) and my grandma (#27) are still there for me. Plus the memory of lost loved ones (#28) help me know that I am fortunate to age and meet milestones with a grin versus a grimace.

The Writing Life

One of the best things I ever did was say good-bye to my job in insurance and hello to the writer’s life. Family Footnote (#29) gives me a platform to spew the words rattling around in my head to readers (#30) that I never want to let down. Oh, and we wrote a book last year from all of our blog posts (#30.5) called “Full House Full Hearts“. Order it here!

Writing also knows no age. In fact it is something that the older a person is, very likely the better they will do at it. A forty-year-old writer has more experiences and a bigger vocabulary than a twenty-year-old writer. All of my emerging white hairs spring from antics that will make great copy. 

Writing also turned my friend Tessa into my writing partner (#31). Our dynamic keeps the creativity flowing. Writing introduced me to Lynn Painter (#32) who has a book coming out soon (Click here and order it!). She is the pristine version of: it can happen, do not give up, keep writing, and all of the other motivations a person in any career must hear on repeat.

Rounding Out My List

I have had two dogs (#33 and #34) as a grown-up and will forever be a dog person. Reading (#35) is another thing in my life that has no age limit and I love that growing older will not hinder my bookworm ways as I indulge in novels by Fredrik Backman (#36), Christina Lauren (#37), and Tana French (#38). 

I also cannot forget about goals. Learning to play pickleball (#39) and finishing my fiction writing projects (#40) are my current top objectives. However, I will even settle for jogging more and taking on additional freelance work.

Everything in Between

This recent birthday might mean I am over the hill. But what a climb my thirties were! Moving homes, growing a family, working for myself and figuring out what is important only to realize that priorities constantly change. These are all takeaways that I would never trade. 

Madeleine L’Engle, author of “A Wrinkle in Time” said it best and I agree wholeheartedly, “The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.”

I can look back, but not rewind time. And that is fine because right now is where I am supposed to be in life.