Why Girl40? Simple, I am a girl and I am forty. I suppose at the age of forty “woman 40″ would be more appropriate, but that just doesn’t have the same ring to it. It occurred to me today [the day before Valentine's Day] that my expectations for celebrating Valentine’s Day are different from they were even five years ago when I was midway through my thirties. That got me thinking, what other expectations did I have that have changed? How have my views changed on life, love, politics, friends, clothes [now clothes may seem a little out-of-place stuck between the more important friends and family, but they are at least as important as politics], family? What expectations do I have for the next 40 years of my life? Even something much less philosophical than all that, why am I fighting at this moment the double injustice of having to deal with both grey hairs on my head and a Mt. St. Helen’s size blemish breakout on my chin? So many questions sparked by such an innocent little holiday.
So that brings me here, to this blog. It is cheaper than therapy for sure and I thought maybe as I process my thoughts on being a 40-year-old woman in 2010, that it might just stimulate other girl40s to process too and share their thoughts as well. So let’s talk about it all, the magnificent and the mundane, the sunshine and the rain! Hey, if those “real” Housewives of Orange County can blog we can too right? [Yes, I watch that ridiculous show. Don't judge me.]
Back to Valentine’s Day, all this came to mind as my husband and two of my three children and I were driving down the highway along the river on our way to go for a hike. I know typical Valentine’s Day celebrations include candy, flowers, and a way over priced card that sings a line from a sappy love song when you open it up, but our celebrations have never looked typical and today was no exception. We did have a wonderful hike on trails we had never taken through thick mossy forests growing alder and maple, by Ruckel Creek flowing much to full for February, and even a walk on an old historic highway long ago closed.
In retrospect, we couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate celebration for our love this Valentine’s Day. Like that trail we walked our love over these past years has had its curves and bumps in the road. I believe it has developed a strong root system like those maples we walked under and we have even grown some “mossy” habits in our marriage. Our love does run just as strong as that creek flows.
Today, celebrating my first Valentine’s Day of my 40′s I can say I don’t want the candy because I would only have to walk longer to keep it off of my hips. I don’t need the flowers, because I would rather have a forest, and save a tree and don’t buy that expensive card. I have discovered that the yellow sticky left on the freshly filled coffee pot that says, “I love you,” means even more on February 15th than it would on the 14th.
With no expectations, but plenty of anticipation,
Girl40
Mickstone Designs said,
February 20, 2010 at 7:19 pm
I hear you. Forty used to seem so old. Believe me, I’m not new to my 40s, and it’s not old. Sometimes, I barely feel like an adult. I love my life now, way more than when I was a girl. So, good luck with being a mature and immature girl40.