This week, I will celebrate my birthday again. Most years, I don't find my birthday to be an incredibly big deal. As far as I'm concerned, my last major milestone birthday was 30. Ever since then, I have sometimes even found myself stumbling to even remember my own age. "I think I turn 34 this year. Wait! No! How can I be 36 already?"
Thirty nine feels a little bit different. I'm not going to say old. I don't really feel old. Most days. But 39 feels like something more significant. It's the eve of 40. On my last major birthday (yes, we're still talking about 30), I had just become a mother for the first time. I was engaging in what I felt was truly "a career" (rather than "a job"), and I still felt like I had barely left college. What a difference nine years makes in so many ways.
So to celebrate this personal milestone, I wanted to share some wisdom gleaned from 39 laps around the sun. Many of these thoughts aren't even that profound or original. As you will see, I crib heavily from those wiser and more eloquent than myself. But these are my musings at this point in my life.
Here are my thoughts in no particular order:
Thirty nine feels a little bit different. I'm not going to say old. I don't really feel old. Most days. But 39 feels like something more significant. It's the eve of 40. On my last major birthday (yes, we're still talking about 30), I had just become a mother for the first time. I was engaging in what I felt was truly "a career" (rather than "a job"), and I still felt like I had barely left college. What a difference nine years makes in so many ways.
So to celebrate this personal milestone, I wanted to share some wisdom gleaned from 39 laps around the sun. Many of these thoughts aren't even that profound or original. As you will see, I crib heavily from those wiser and more eloquent than myself. But these are my musings at this point in my life.
Here are my thoughts in no particular order:
- There is very little in life that wine, chocolate, or talk with an old friend won't fix.
- Marry someone because they make you laugh.
- Pajama days are restorative.
- Working with kids keeps you young.
- When you are in need, the hardest thing to do is ask for help. It is also the most important thing to do.
- "I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." --EB White
- Cheese is one of the greatest foods ever made.
- A double sink vanity will save your marriage.
- Most people don't understand the proper usage of the words "ironic", "whom", and "literally".
- One of the best things about being an adult is eating whipped cream straight out of the can.
- Tragedy changes your world but it doesn't have to define it.
- Some of the sweetest pleasures in life don't cost a thing.
- Your parents are right. Mostly. You won't realize it until you are older.
- "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1
- Right now, someone wishes they had your life.
- Extremism in all its forms can be dangerous.
- I don't fear much. Except escalators. They are from the devil.
- The people on my freebie list must have lost my number. Otherwise, I'm sure they would have called by now. Clooney? Do you hear me? I'm talking to you!
- Some songs will always make me cry: Amazing Grace, Silent Night, Baby Mine from Dumbo, and Nanci Griffith's Trouble in the Fields.
- You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.
- "The good old days weren't always good. Tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems." -Billy Joel
- There's nothing like a crisis to show you who your true friends are.
- You're never too old to watch a Disney cartoon by yourself.
- There is nothing more profound than watching your child take her first breath. Except maybe watching her take her last.
- I never feel old until I start talking to people in their 20s. What do you mean you have never seen Goonies???
- There are many things that are wonderful and amazing about the Internet. I still can't figure out why people continue to feed the trolls, though.
- Plant flowers every spring, even if it's only in a window box.
- "It is our choices that show what we truly are far more than our abilities." --Albus Dumbledore
- Some things I will never understand:
- Caffeine free diet soda (really? what's the point?)
- The overwhelming allure of frozen yogurt
- Why everyone obsesses about Pumpkin Spice (anything) in the fall
- There is always room in your heart for more love. Sometimes you have to patch a few holes first, though.
- My favorite quote about grammar: "Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college." -- Kurt Vonnegut
- I'm really good at a lot of things. I suck at loading the dishwasher.
- "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk while it's still snowing." --Phyllis Diller
- Everyone is dealing with something. Be kind.
- "Do one thing every day that scares you." --Eleanor Roosevelt. The corollary to this is: "Well behaved women rarely make history." -- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
- A nugget of wisdom by that sage, Louis CK: "The only reason you should ever look into your neighbor's bowl is to make sure they have enough."
- My dream interviewers are Terry Gross and Ira Glass. My dream celebrities to hang out with for a day would be Jon Stewart and Tina Fey.
- "Oh, if life were made of moments...even now and then a bad one. But then if life were only moments, then you'd never know you had one."--Baker's Wife, Into the Woods
- No matter how you're feeling right now, this video will brighten your day.