My Big Fat Great Forty-Fourth Birthday

Yes, today is my birthday. Not a 'big one', but still big to me. I mean Forty-FOUR. Forty-four and dating (albeit, barely) in Seattle. Forty-four and an apartment dweller (although, more by choice these days). Never mind that I can't actually afford to buy a house in this town...I could somewhere...somewhere remote and probably unappealing??? But for now I choose to live here (we'll talk again when Nasty November hits).

I remember my 30th birthday. An older woman I worked with told me I'd love my thirties...said her thirties were the best years of her life. I entered my thirties feeling positive and charged...or IN charge...something like that. I figured if my thirties were that great (and they were!) I was going to love my forties (and so far I do!).

My fortieth birthday was spent on the island of Skiathos in Greece. I threw myself a big beach party and welcomed my 40's. I danced on a bar, bungee jumped from a crane and paraglided above the sea. It was an adventurous time and I entered my 40's with zest!

No longer FortyISH. I'm now in my 'mid-forties'. And not too far from 'late' forties. Forty-four is a good number though. It's one of those double number years...22, 33, 44...It sort of rolls off the lips easily...forty-four. And since 88 is considered lucky in Asian cultures, wouldn't it seem that 44 would be at least half as lucky?

Other than having to face my mother in my bathroom mirror more and more each day (she died 12 years ago! What is she doing hanging out in my medicine cabinet? Just lurking there to annoy me???) and dealing with some other minor aging signs, being in my 'mid-forties' isn't too terrible. In March I was fitted for glasses....never had to wear glasses. Always perfect eyesight...which I was quite proud of and bragged about (that'll teach me!) Dr. put me into a pair of progressive lenses. What the heck??? Now I can't see anything! They are useless. I have NO peripheral vision and I trip going down steps. Ugh...forget it...they are a mild prescription. I can see well enough without them! That was money ill-spent! I should have bought designer shoes instead. Maybe for my birthday :)