Today, I am 40 years old

Wow! That was fast! The first 40 years, I mean.
At 11:55 pm on August 30, 1979 I came into this world. (With a little help from my mom, of course. Thanks Mom!!)

My husband has said to me "You are the only person I've ever know who was excited to be turning 40."
Of COURSE I am. This is a milestone and I thank God that I get to experience it.

Honestly, I've never understood the attitude that some folks have about turning 40. Why is it supposedly a bad thing? As much as I loved my teens, 20's and 30's, I wouldn't want to stay in any of those periods of my life indefinitely.
I do not want to try to make anyone think that I'm not 40. Why would I? Am I supposed to think that there is some sort of shame in being anything older than a 30-something? That's not happening.
Maybe it's because of the fact that a good 90% of the people who I love and admire most are all over 40? I've pretty much always preferred the company of those who are older than me. Even when I was a little kid, I didn't want to "go play with the other kids". I wanted to talk with the adults.

Folks who are my age and younger have benefited quite a bit from the baby boomers in the sense that they redefined what was "old". My grandmother was a stereotypical "old lady" at age 60. That is so far from the case now. Folks who are 60 are running marathons, traveling the globe and being downright fabulous.

More than anything else though, I'm excited to be turning 40 because I love life. I truly do. I love MY life. I love being married to my best friend. I love the life that we have built. Dare I say it? I wouldn't change a thing about our lives.

I get up each day and I go to the gym to exercise. That means that I'm a healthy able-bodied person. For that, I'm grateful.
After the gym, I take my dogs and we go down to the harbor to watch the sunrise.

This means not only do I have two awesome dogs, not only do I get to live right on the ocean, but also it means that I'm alive and well to see another day. For that, I'm grateful.

After that, I go into a job that I love and look forward to being at. The person who employees me, is one of my best friends. In my life, I've worked at bad jobs and I've worked for very bad people. That was enough for me to know how good I've got it now. Bill, if you are reading this, I'm so grateful for you.

I volunteer for an animal rescue. We get dogs out of high kill "shelters" in the south and get them to loving forever homes here in New England. My part isn't huge, but I am able to help. The relief and pure joy of seeing an innocent soul being moved from the "euth list" to the "safe list" is beyond what any words can describe. I get to be a part of that, for that I'm so grateful.

As I've gone through early adulthood , I like who I am much better now that I'm on this side.

I used to be quick to debate. I had the "don't back down" mentality. Now, you can tell me 1+1 =5. I'm not wasting any of my energy to argue with you. I have my thoughts and beliefs, I'm comfortable with them. I no longer have the need to make others see things my way.

I now fully understand how precious my energy and piece of mind is. When I was younger I somehow thought that I had to tolerate the negative a toxic people. I was more concerned with being "nice", even if it were at my own expense. Those days are long, long gone. If you are one of those vapid people, make no mistake..there is no room in my life for you.

Conversely though, I do understand now that we are all humans and we will ALL mistakes. Younger me would hold a grudge. Now, I know not to hold others (or myself) to impossible standards.

Along my journey to where I am, I've come to see that quality will always trump quantity. I'd rather have a few good people around me than lots of so-so ones.

I'd rather have one (or two) glasses of really good wine once ever few months as opposed to hitting the bars every weekend like I did in my 20's.

All in all though, what I'm looking most forward to is showing all of these wonderful people in my life just how deeply I love them.

Sure, I've had some hard times, some really, really hard times. That's part and parcel with being a human. But all and all, these first 40 years have been damn good.

I have a circle of people in my life that rally around me, no matter what.

So, no there is no dread in this newly minted 40 year old. None.

There is an abundance of gratitude. There is a limitless amount of love. There is a fair amount of refection. Things I did wrong before, I'll do right now. Or at least, I'll sure as all heck try to.

I will not "mourn" the loss of my 20's or 30's, as they are not "gone". They were stops on the ride of life that got me to where I am now. Where I am now, is exactly where I want to be. For that, I'm grateful.

XO,

SheShe

PS: This afternoon , we are taking a break from the fitness and diet routine and going to Peaceful Meadows!