Thursday, February 12, 2009

Older, wiser (?)

It just hit me: This is the last day of my thirties. I called Brian to freak out a little and he said, yeah but you have a whole year before you're actually in your forties. Logically that is wrong, but I'll take what I can get. Then I thought, wait. If I was alive from Day 1 to Day 364, which I was, I've actually already been in my fortieth year for a whole year and didn't even notice. So it must not be that bad. Right? Right. Forty is the new thirty. That's something only forty-year-olds say I think.

I've never actually been impressed or bothered by pivotal birthdays. Witness:

Sweet Sixteen - Eh. I didn't live in a town where it was requisite to have a big rented place type blow-out or keep with the traditional Jewish sixteenth birthday present and get a nose job. My parents took me out to dinner at Inverness's finest restaurant located in the historic Crown Hotel, and I had prime rib. There's a picture of my dad and I dancing from that night that's awesome, and that's about it. I lost my virginity ten days later. Oops.

Eighteen - This was actually a good one. My dad bought me my first car, a Suzuki Samurai. (Unfortunately, I skipped school a few weeks later and got it taken away for a month, right around the time I finally got comfortable using the stick shift, damn it.) The day of my birthday, I shot the best round of golf of my life, with only my friend Mikey as a witness. The weather was a perfect February Florida day and the golf course was insanely busy, but I wasn't giving up on that game. Two over par - a record that has yet to be broken.

Twenty-one: Again, my parents took me out to eat, this time along with some of my friends. I don't remember what I ate, but I ordered my first legal drink, an Alabama Slammer. I was between boyfriends at the time, so spent the rest of the evening drinking with the girls. I don't remember much else about it.

Twenty-five: Is this an important one? Oh yeah, my car insurance went down. That was exciting. But I was just under two years away from meeting Brian, so actually my twenty-seventh birthday was way more memorable because it was on that night we did it for the first time. Before that, he made me dinner and we'd rented the Antonio Banderas movie Desperado, a movie that was so interesting, we decided having sex would be way more preferrable. Twice.

Thirty: Most of my friends freaked out over this one, but I avoided feeling weird about it by having a party to celebrate our engagement instead. Some smartass still snuck a 30th birthday cake into the festivities, but I don't ever really mind extra cake.

And so now this is forty, which - cool. The most important thing about this one is this will hopefully (hope, pray, every finger and toe crossed, every penny tossed, wishing on every star, ask the Magic 8 ball, etc.) be the year I become a mother. I think that overshadows any angst about getting older; there are plenty of legitimate things coming very soon to worry about; how convenient for me. I like that my decade beginners, both this time and last time coincide with the bigger, life-changing events. It's certainly one way to keep perspective. I'm not sure what this means for my fiftieth, but I'm looking forward to finding out. Maybe that's the year I'll win the Nobel Peace Prize. You never know.

This isn't the first time it will fall on a Friday the 13th either, but I'm not scared. Thirteen is my lucky number, obviously. And the more I look around and take stock, the more I do feel very lucky.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

How could you NOT like Desperado? Any movie that features a naked Salma Hayek and a naked Antonio Banderas would seem to feature something for everyone.

Hope this really is your lucky year!

Anonymous said...

Have I said? I really like the way you write. Reading about your life is much more fun than it is on most other blogs.

Happy birthday. I am freaking out about turning 30 in 2 years, so I sympathize as best I can.

Kim said...

TB - I did end up watching the movie a few years after that and appreciated it more. I think my mind was on other things the first time...And I forgot Salma's boobs starred in that - we may have to rent it again to celebrate tomorrow night.

Crist - Thanks, you just made my day!

Anonymous said...

Let's get back to the two over par thing...WHAT A DAY!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Well, you test 40 out for the rest of the year for me and then you can tell me it's safe to turn, okay? Okay!

I'm not freaking out about turning 40 either. I'm still having too much fun to worry about it and SO ARE YOU! :)

It'll keep us young. Be sure of it.

Kim said...

MTAE - I'll never play another round of golf like it. It saddens me.

Heather - I think people like us make 40's look cool. Forty used to seem so old; I figured I'd have a helmet hairdo by now, but I'm glad to see I still look like myself.

Anonymous said...

happy happy birthday!
i can sympathize with the panic. for some reason i stopped enjoying - and started freaking out about - birthday's the year i turned 17. i suppose that's a bit young, but i like to be ahead of the game.
if it makes you feel any better though, if i didn't know your age and someone showed me your picture, i'd guess 29.

i'm going to send YOU an email now! i have some top-secret news i can't yet share with the rest of the world :)
xo

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOU SEXY THANG!!!

Kim said...

buoy - I bet it went to my work email and now I'll have to go in tomorrow because there's no way I'm waiting to find out what it says until Monday!

Snerk - Thank you; I certainly don't FEEL forty, but that's mostly because I'm really immature.

Anonymous said...

Now you get to have people tell you how great you look... for your age.

All the best on becoming a mommy.

Kim said...

Why thank you!