I am turning 44 years old in two days and with every birthday, it is a checkpoint in life for me.
Every year at my birthday, I buy something for myself or I do something pretty kinda out there. At my birthday, I have bought a house, bought a sporty car, pierced my belly, pierced my belly, pierced my belly, pierced my belly (Yes, I've pierced it 4 times! My skin just rejects it.), I've taken a spontaneous road-trip to the ocean, I got a tattoo and believe me, the list goes on ...
This year I bought myself a really nice bike for our biking adventures. Definitely a part of the health & fitness lifestyle we have embraced.
Oh! I just lost 20 lbs in the last 5 months and now that I've shocked my metabolism and my body is being so responsive, I just keep losing more and I am excited to see how far I can take this. It has become an unanticipated, unexpected, happily embraced new season in life.
Turning 44 also has other unanticipated body changes, called hormones. For six months I've had right breast pain and quite honestly, I was fearful in getting a mammogram on the grounds that my lifestyle has no time for health set-backs or uncomfortable procedures IF in fact it was a serious issue. The longer I waited, I pondered if irreparable damage was spreading through my body.
My cure for life is, denial, keep moving, be healthy. Thus, my same thought pattern when I tore my medial meniscus two summers ago according to the MRI and orthopedic surgeon, so I went out and bought a pair of good running shoes to cure it.
My mammogram came back normal, thank you Jesus! What I did learn is due to my age, because my ovaries are slowing down producing hormones, it is very common for women my age to experience tissue pain.
Nobody talks about this stuff, so I am.
I'm good with tissue pain. That is the easiest outcome and that's why God made ibuprofen!
I confess, turning 44 years old on Saturday has be secretly thrilled I still have no crow's feet! That's right, no sign at all of wrinkles around my eyes. Thank you, Olay!
Moisturize. Moisturize. Moisturize.
I remember I couldn't wait to turn 40! I was excited and "Oh my gosh!" just remembered that I had my uterus removed as a pre-birthday gift to myself in preparation for 40's and fabulous!
I'm not kidding when I say I do nice things for myself for my birthday and I will not share the not-nice things I've done.
Birthdays are milestones in life.
Always a checkpoint to make sure I am where I want to be in life. Work hard, play harder. What haven't I done that I have always wanted to do?
I am happy.
My girls are both doing fabulous in spite of Brooke's rough year that has life back to normal and Mariah just losing her dad. Mariah just graduated and Brooke is entering high school next month and I am embracing my new freedoms now that they are getting older and more independent.
I did find a career of significance that challenges and stimulates me. I also just received a certification that empowers me to run restaurants, which is another unexpected twist in life. One that intrigues me.
It is mid-summer and I embrace and bask in all its glory.
Then there is love.
I continue to fall more in love with David.
I love knowing that while life happens, I continue to fall more deeply in love with him and our life together. He is my best friend and the one I cannot imagine life without.
He is my future.
Love is exhilarating. Love is tough. Love is magical moments. Love is sometimes not being each others favorite person, but that is when love is a choice, a verb, an action word. It is the overriding factor in our choices and the magical powers of healing.
As I turn 44, I am absolutely enjoying life!
44, I welcome you.
