Turning 40 . . .

Well, it was just a matter of time. 40 years to be exact. I don't know what I expected when I turned 40, but I woke up and felt exactly the same as I did the day before. Now, granted, I don't feel quite as good as I did when I turned 29, but I feel a heck of a lot better than I did when I turned 30.
To recap, on July 28, 1997 my middle child, KC, was 10 weeks old and we were finally settling into a routine with her and her older brother Brady who was almost 3. I started having severe abdominal pain in the middle of the night and could not get to sleep. I didn't want my little ones to spend the evening in the emergency room so I drove myself to the nearby hospital. The following day I had an emergency appendectomy. So on August 1, 1997, my 30th birthday, I was lying in a hospital room recovering. Needless to say, turning 40 was much better!

I spent my 40th birthday hanging out with my wonderful family. We went to Sea World and had Dinner with Shamu. It was a really nice meal, an all-you-can-eat buffet with turkey, mashed potatoes, chocolate cake, cherry cheesecake, and chocolate chip cookies. The kids had hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and mac and cheese.


After dinner, we got to see a special presentation by the Shamu trainers. The two full grown killer whales didn't feel like posing for pictures, so they brought in an adorable 20 month old baby! She did all her tricks and posed like a pro, and we loved seeing her!

We had such a nice evening - it was quiet and relaxing and the presentation was great. I think the best part was just being with Bill and the kids away from work and all the related stress. So nice with back to school looming so soon . . .

So now that I am 40, how does that change things? Well, my friend and favorite librarian Krystal reminded me that there are so many gifts that come with maturity. People start to give you the benefit of the doubt and presume you have wisdom to share. Maybe they listen a bit more, either to be polite or because they think you actually know something. And once you are mature enough to remind them of their moms, people tend to argue a bit less with you just out of respect. I don't know if I'm mature enough to remind the 22 year olds of their moms (Krystal says I'm not quite there yet) but if being 40 means someone may stop and listen for just a moment longer, then it may just be worth it.

On a completely unrelated note, we met the new principal of Dulles HS on Friday and it turns out that he used to be a student of Bill's at Clements! Of course Bill is MUCH older than I am. LOL

Sending hugs to Heather in Oregon for her also August birthday! Leos rule! Peeps out! :-)