The day began like every birthday has since I became cognicent of birth – my Mom called and started making pushing noises as though she was in labor. This year I retorted with some loud screaming as though it was the cry when the nurses start aspirating a newborn’s nostrils. I think I threw her off -she was speechless. If you know my Mom, you know that as a rarity.

Next, Shad and I had both taken the day off. We packed up and hiked up a local mountain, Mount Monadnock. The forecast called for rain int he afternoon so we skipped the breakfast date and went straight over to Dublin to hike. We got to the top with just a hint of sprinkling on the way – however on the summit my rain jacket and pants allowed me to become a human version of a sail.

It was soooo windy I seriously felt like one of the Weather Channel reporters during hurricane season in Florida. We didn’t stay on the summit too long which didn’t really matter since the rain started to pick up

On the way home we stopped and did one of Shad’s favorite things, in honor of me, placing a geocache. Ironically the park he we put it in was created in 1969 – clearly a sign that the title of his cache should have something to do with my big day.

Naturally we went somewhere so I could play photographer for a few minutes… not too long…. just enough to get my fix. This is one of the pics I took:

We headed home to relieve Nicole and be with the kids. Our friend Brendan came over to watch the kids so we could go out with his parents for dinner. We arrived at the restaurant to find my entire family and a few soccer friends sitting at the table. I was shocked. I had no idea if and what Shad had planned but my family driving down from up North and driving up from down South on a week night to have dinner was an awesome thing. I was pretty psyched and it made 40 seem not so bad.

“Not so bad” you say? Ahhh, yah, when my parents were young I think 40 was time for mid-life crisis. I think I get that now. I spent weeks trying to see what was ahead in my life and assessing where I am versus where I thought I would be in my life. I feel so blessed to have all that I have from Shad to three healthy kids, a house, a dog, a job not to mention our health and supportive friends. From that perspective I have it all and I KNOW that I have been blessed with so much yet it’s the same time it’s a trip to think about what I wanted at 25 and what I have at 40. I think things like this make you just step back and think about the important things. I at least figured out that I live with many of the important things. I knew it all along but reminding myself after a long day, a long week, a long month… a long year is a good thing. Looking forward to the unknown right now – again, reminds me of what I value as important is not going away. So, all in all, it was a very HAPPY birthday.