I'm 41 Today

Newborn Ree

"Where does the time go?" is such an overused platitude, but oh so true!  How am I suddenly 41 when I should just be turning 30???

Eating like a bird for a few weeks no longer results in dramatic weight loss like it did in my 20's.  41 year-old fat is stubborn, yo!  However, when I look around at the health battles that others are fighting, I thank God for my miraculous body, no matter if the scale numbers are up or down.  At least I'm healthy.  And gorgeous.  

My dad always told me that drinking coffee would make me grow hair on my chest.  I am here to tell you, it doesn't, but it kept me from bugging him for it all those years ago.   I now enjoy the occasional latte....it still invokes in me the feeling that I am getting away with doing something that is very "grown-up"!

I drink far too much Coke Zero and red wine and not enough water.  I'm okay with that.

Youth is wasted on the young.

Worrying is bad for your psyche.  And your skin.  I am human, I can't totally eradicate it, but I do FAR less of it nowadays!  You have to just roll with it, life.

The power of forgiveness is perhaps the most amazing of all human superpowers.  Especially when it comes to forgiving YOURSELF.

Good friends are worth the trouble...and I am not yet the friend I hope to be.

You can't judge me on my past, I don't live there anymore.  (Borrowed from Pinterest.)

I still love Little House On The Prairie, 80's music and bad chick lit.  I admit it loud & proud.  

I used to swear up and down that I would never go around without makeup on.  I can't tell you the last time I wore makeup to work.

I also swore that I would never drive a minivan.  It's parked out front.  They just make good sense!

I avoided the news when I was younger, the whole ignorance is bliss thing.  Ignorance is NOT bliss, but knowledge can be a very sad thing.  The news has become horrifyingly predictable, yet my eyes still well up with tears.  May I never get so hardened that I am no longer affected.

I have run marathons and jumped from a plane, but the most incredible and perfect thing that my body has ever done, is create my beautiful daughter and breastfeed her for 13 months.

I believe in God.  I was raised as a Church Girl.  I later rebelled and questioned everything I had been taught, but for me, He is the real deal.  He and I, we have a good relationship.  If I die and it was all wrong, no harm done.  I am still a searcher when it comes to religion.  This is okay.

I love the LGBT community.  Live and let live.  Live and let marry.

Hashing out politics with someone really IS a bad idea, folks.  Don't do it!

I no longer need to get wasted and stay out until dawn.  I've done that and I have nothing to prove at this point.  My happiest nights are spent moon-gazing with my daughter and tucking her in after a bedtime story, or five! 

I know that becoming a wife and a mother in your 20's works for a lot of people, but THANK GOD I didn't!  I would never have handled it or appreciated it like I do now.

Menstruation sucks, but may menopause leave me alone for a good long while!

Sure, I believe in aging gracefully.  Unless it starts to turn tragic, then I also believe in cosmetic procedures to make yourself feel better.  God, grant me the wherewithal to know when to say when...BEFORE turning into the Cat Lady, Jocelyn Wildenstein!

Like Baz Luhrmann advises in his song Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen), you REALLY should trust me on this...WEAR SUNSCREEN!  I will always be a sun worshipper, but the baby oil and iodine mixture of my nothing-can-touch-me youth, has been replaced with 30spf sunscreen.  I regret the sun spots that now decorate my face, and we all know that skin cancer is no joke! 

My career is far from what I once imagined for myself, but it's good, for now.  I hope that my life is long and that I have the chance to pursue more of my dreams.

When your mom warns you to always have clean underwear on in case you end up in the E.R.?  Listen to her!  I am a nurse, I have seen some unfortunate things in the undergarment department.

I am not going to lie and say that I don't care what others think of me.  Of course I do, but only to a certain degree.  I no longer feel the need to impress people.  It was wasted energy and I eventually got exhausted.

I still have to drink milk when I eat spaghetti.

I recall my childhood imaginary friend, Tommy Dultson, with fondness.  He was good stuff and I miss him still.

While I very much enjoy our modern luxuries and technology, my heart sometimes aches for the simpler times.  My mind always drifts to summer days in the 70's growing up in northern Michigan.  I spent every day outside, swinging and dreaming on my tire swing, climbing trees, riding my bike and reading.  I spent long days soaking up the sun at Sturgeon Bay. We had a party line telephone.  I waited for letters in the mailbox.  I recorded songs from the radio by holding up the recorder to the speakers, commanding complete silence from anyone nearby.

Adoption rules!  I should know, I am adopted.  Adopt a kid, adopt a pet, adopt a charity...it's all good! 

My dogs...Skipper...Scout....Buddy...and now Jasper, understand me in a way that no human ever will. <3

If I wake up tomorrow and everything is gone, but I still have Margaux, Patrick and Jasper?  I would still count myself as the most blessed woman in the world.

Happy Birthday to me!