My Birthday

I am now officially closer to 40 than I am to 30.  And apparently closer to 50 than to 20 - and this is supposed to make me happy, apparently life begins at 40, well if that's the case, I feel the need to ask, what is it I've been doing all this time?  Don't get me wrong, aging beats the alternative, but I don't understand why Jake thinks I'm so old, when clearly I'm still so young. And now when I say "Oh she's young, even younger than me" people giggle, and say "That doesn't make her young Julie."  What???  When did this happen?

This is the first birthday to even remotely catch my attention.  Ok, that's not quite true.  I love my birthday, I've been known to plan my own parties, help plan my own surprise parties, buy my own gifts, and distribute them to those who don't have time to shop.  It wasn't that long ago I started counting down to my birthday in February, and only a couple of years since people haven't got the 2 month warning. 

This year it kind of snuck up on me.  Granted, I've been preoccupied with Sloan, and November and December are always the busiest months of the year for me, but still, I can't believe it snuck up on me.  In 36 years, that's a first.  And I didn't like it, not one little bit. 

My mom and dad have often been away on my birthday, afterall the NFR is normally in full swing on December 10, and they are die-hard atendees, but this year, they went to Iowa for my birthday - for training in a computer program - is there no stability in the world?  And in case you need to read it again...Ron Giles went to Iowa to learn a computer program during the NFR - nothing is sacred.

All of this has caused me to stop and reflect, and really take stock of my life.   This year, I spent my birthday pondering these thoughts.  I'm not going to stay young forever, and rumour has it, I passed young already.  I have also concluded I'm not going to live forever either - doesn't that sound like a fun birthday party?  Make you wish you were in Iowa too?  All this reflecting allowed me to conclude the following about my life so far.

Let me say first, I don't regret the last 10 years of my life, not one bit.  My 10 year life review looks something like this:  At 26, I was going through a divorce, buying a company, working for my Dad, and sorting myself out (still working on that one).  At 30 Blake was born, and then in a blink of an eye he was gone, a heartbreak that defines a lot of who I am today, in a good way. At 33, Reg and I started to date, at 34 we got married, and at 35 Sloan arrived.  I have got to see some amazing places including; Italy, Monte Carlo, a wee bit of France and Germany, Jamaica, St. Lucia, the Maritimes, a few Mexican destinations, Aspen for New Years (I highly recommend this), Las Vegas, California, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Illinois, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, The Bahamas, and my personal favorite New York in the Fall and the spring.  Dad & I started Rustic Ranch, and bought a few houses in Arizona along the way, and I cemented the friendships that I now know will be in place for the rest of my life.   As Kenny Chesney would say "I've done some living, and I've had fun".

And yet, 36 has caused me to stop and pause...not necessarily a bad thing, just a new experience.  As I watched Sloan open my gifts (one of which was a fabulous food processer, something I would have never guessed I would be excited about), and Reg go off to work, I waited for the balloons, birthday cake, and surprise birthday party - which was "Surprise, no party this year"... I realized the real truth, this year I was forced to finally be an adult on my birthday.  And it wasn't so bad, in fact, it was perfect, it became obvioius things are as they should be, which is the best birthday present of all.

Although next year, could we have a little chocolate cake please?

Love,

Julie