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My 40th Birthday

I turned 40 last month.

I’ve never been super bothered by getting older, and have found that in general, I’ve enjoyed life more as time has gone on. Still, it is a mid-life milestone, and I had few things pegged to it. I wanted to be done having children by the time I was 40 (success!) and I wanted to be in a satisfying, but still growing, place in my career (success!). I also wanted to be a published author, so it was nice to get one of my now rare royalty checks just a few days before my birthday.

My life right now is not without challenges, especially with two small children at home and a continuing pandemic outside, but I have a lot to be proud of and grateful for. Every challenge we’re facing today does have a long term solution, and on hard days I just need to remember to focus on that.

Nice dinners or long weekend trips have been our traditional go-to things for birthdays. Both of these were difficult or impossible during the pandemic, but we knew of something that wasn’t: renting a suite at the A’s baseball stadium! We did it in early August, and while it’s not a relaxing time with two little ones, it is a fun thing we knew we could enjoy safely as a family. We did decide to keep the windows closed this time though. It was a shame not to be able to hear the game and fans as directly as having the nice breeze come in would allow, but the last game we went to proved that Adam wouldn’t shy away from trying to throw things, or himself, out the window if given a few seconds of chance. Much less stress with the windows closed!

MJ really outdid himself with it too. He printed a custom banner to decorate the suite!

Knowing how much I love kitsch and sugary grocery store cake, he got me the BEST baseball cake! Truly, I am totally a child when it comes to birthday cake.

He even rented a spot on the huge game board to wish me a happy 40th birthday during the 4th inning!

To top it off, the A’s won. It was a tiring afternoon for all of us, especially since Aaron is a bit more mobile now, but it was a lot of fun.

On my actual birthday I took the day off from work and took the morning to myself.

First, I ran/walked a 5K so I could award myself a medal I had laying around in my desk.

When that was complete, I treated myself to some pancakes at the local outdoor brunch place, and rounded out the morning by reading in my hammock out back.

For lunch, MJ and I drove out to Dublin where I stopped at a craft store to pick up an order (toddler art stuff!) and made a side stop at a book store. We then picked up pizza (for me) and BBQ (for the rest of the family).

That afternoon I was surprised by our former au pair coming over and doing a little celebration together with balloons and cupcakes, a lovely surprise. Our current au pair also gave me a present “from her and the boys” that was a super cute framed photo of the boys that they helped her paint.

So here I am, 40 years old. Not so bad so far! And the one big thing I learned from my day off is that I need to do some of this stuff more often. I am being worn super thin with my commitments to work and family right now, but I need to take care of myself too. I’m not getting any younger, and I’m a much better wife, mother, and friend when I’ve had time to recharge.