Birthdays...

Just on the heels of my 39th birthday, I came across this...

from Notes from the Trenches

So This Is Forty

Today I will celebrate my birthday by doing all of the ordinary things I do every day. In the past I may have resented this, wanting my birthday to be set aside somehow as special and feeling annoyed that it wasn’t. Now I am inclined to believe the old people who tell me this is as good as it gets, that I should enjoy it now before the kids all grow up and go away.

I will help someone with phonics, another kid with multiplication tables.
I will reprimand someone for something.
I will drink too much coffee.
I will do laundry, tie shoes, make lunch.
I will think about what to make for dinner. And then probably not do anything about it.
At least one kid will need a band-aid.
I will tell my four year old that he really IS capable of wiping his own butt. He will refuse.
I will mediate disagreements.
I will do errands and will drive a thousand miles in my van, but never get more than 5 miles away from house. You would think that would be impossible, but I assure you it is not.
I will watch at least one child play baseball.
I will hug my children, even the ones that would rather not be hugged.
I will lose my patience with someone.
I will apologize.
I will love.
I will be loved.

This is forty.

My children will make me laugh, more times than I can count. Often when I least want to. I hope I am still laughing just as much 40 years from now.