Bunny!

I got an e-mail from my Mom today that said yesterday was the date I was due to arrive, and back in 1968 it was Easter - she said "aren't you glad you didn't arrive then? We'd have nicknamed you Bunny!"

Well yes, I am glad I wasn't born then. As an accountant to have a birthday right around Tax Day would be a bummer - would either be too busy to celebrate with work or doing my own taxes - and I love my end of the month date that allows me to savor the whole month in anticipation of my birthday. And isn't anticipation the best part of anything anyway?

Just in case you haven't done the arithmetic, yes, I am about to turn 40... in less than 2 weeks!! And I am so proud of myself that I am not freaking out! When I turned 30 I worried and obsessed for half of my 28th year and all of 29 - but then when 30 came it was great - at the time my friend Laura threw me a surprise party, I got voicemails and e-mails from friends and collegues all over the world, and I discovered that life didn't end at 30 and in fact it was pretty good!

In my 30s I got to know myself better -

• I picked up the flute which I hadn't played since college and discovered I'm good at it and I love it! I've been playing in my church band for years now and find it's an outlet for me to worship God.
  
• I traveled to Europe a lot - on business trips and personal. I found a love for exploring cities and was totally content doing that all by myself! I drove in England on the left side of the road! I gazed at masterpieces in the Louvre, climbed mountains in Lucerne and attended church in Geneva. I also explored Scotland with my sister Chrissie and went on a fantastic Italian adventure with Laura.
  
• I went on 2 missions trips.
  
• I tutored inner-city kids.
• I worked with junior-high kids at church and realized it wasn't my forte.
  
• I moved to North Carolina and back, surviving 3 hurricanes, the last of which flooded my house.
  
• I ran two 5Ks.
  
• I went on dates (great story potential here!).
  
• I lived with each of my sisters, and alone.
• I bought and sold 2 houses.
  
• I started realizing what I was good at and began the process of accepting those things that I wasn't.
  
• I grew closer to the Lord as I saw that whatever happened, He is the only One I have. He is the only One who is always there. And He is always faithful.
  

My friend Becky who shares my birth-year (but she's months younger) told me she started getting MORE magazine which is for women over 40 - I thought that was so cool! So I have picked up a few issues.. and I recently watched an episode of Oprah where she said that your 40s, 50s and 60s can be the BEST years of your life! She had blurbs from some over-40 Hollywood women and interviews with "regular" women who had totally changed their lives in mid-life - found new energy, started companies in entirely different fields, traveled, gave back to their communities... I found the show so uplifting, so exciting, so inspiring - I felt the need to figure out how I was going to mark this momentous occasion of turning 40... and in my typical over-the-top fashion, this "need" blossomed into an obsession! Poor Greg and my sisters kept hearing all these ideas I had - from going 4-wheeling to skydiving to jetting off somewhere exotic to a weekend at the beach to throwing a big party.. it's been exhausting!

But I am happy to say that I have figured it all out - the picture in my mind of how I want to celebrate my big day is to be sitting on the beach in a bikini with an umbrella-topped frozen drink. So my sweet Greg has agreed to fly down with me to the Gulf-coast of Florida for a long weekend of sun. And yes, you did read that right, a bikini! I think that is the most deliciously fun part of the whole picture, because you see, I do not have a bikini body. Truth be told, I really don't have a bathing-suit body (but how gracious of the Lord to give me a boyfriend who thinks I'm perfect!), but I do manage to squeeze myself into an appropriately black suit now and again when I want to swim. So this past weekend after about 45 minutes in a swimsuit store with the most patient and helpful saleswoman, I walked out with my first bikini since I was 6! I felt on top of the world! For me the idea oozes fun and confidence - which I am hoping will fill my 40s and beyond.

Of course I still have my pride and self-respect, so I'll only be wearing this bikini on faraway beaches when the likelihood of running into anyone I know is remote.

I'm going to be 40, not a fool! :)