40

15 Sep

Yesterday was my 40th birthday.

It is still weird to type that.

In some ways, 40 sounds terribly old, and in others, it does not. I mean, many (most?) of my friends are older than that and it’s not like they’re geriatric or anything. That being said, 40 for me has meant a lot of contemplating that my life is probably halfway over (assuming I don’t keel over tomorrow or get hit by a car or what have you). And that is a mind f—k.

When I turned 35, I made a list of 40 things to do before I turned 40. I officially completed 22 of them. 18 still to go. A friend at my birthday party last night told me she thought I had all this year to get them done, too, and — given that I still have 18 to do — I liked that idea a lot. Ha ha.

Speaking of my party, I had such a fun time! I had a party at Skateworld, the local rollerskating rink. My goal for it was simple, stress-free, and fun, and thanks to a ton of work from Mike, that was achieved. We had a little private area where we set up catered food from Rubio’s, did a Costco cake (not fancy, but simple and stress-free), and people skated as much as they wanted for three hours. We had about 60 people from different parts of my life, from my oldest friend to college friends to former coworkers to friends I’ve made through Michaela.

I got to spend at least a few minutes with everyone and it was really nice to (re)connect.

I put in the invitation that I didn’t want any gifts, but if people wanted to get something, I would appreciate donations to #HappyPeriod, a charity that donates menstrual products to women experiencing homelessness. I didn’t really expect much so was completely overwhelmed by the generosity of my friends. They came in with giant boxes and bags fill of pads and tampons and wipes and pantyliners. It was incredible. I will be taking the donation to #HappyPeriod this week and am so happy to be ale to do something nice for someone else, given how much kindness has been shown to me in my 40 years on the planet.

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