To say time has flown by is almost too cliche, but it is so true. I am not one of the lucky people who remember anything before age 5, but I do remember a lot after that. As you can tell by my blogs there are a lifetime’s worth of stories in my head. And as I turn 40 today I pause to take a moment and look back on my time on earth so far.
Like everyone else it has been full of highs and lows, hopefully I learned from all my numerous mistakes, I made quite a few. I can only hope I did not permanently hurt anyone while doing them. On this milestone birthday many ask me how does it feel to turn 40? I have to answer honestly and say I do not even feel 30 most days. I am not afraid to tell people my age. I have been blessed to have my body hold up well. I can still compete physically in sports with guys half my age, and I am very grateful to mother nature for that gift.
The main thing I think about in regards to my age is that I want to remain strong and live long for Nora. I do not want her to have an old man as a father, nor do I want her to go through the horrible experience of losing a parent before she is old enough to cope. I want to still be able to climb trees when she is an adolescent (I was born half monkey I think), run with her when she is a teenager, and climb mountains with her when she is an adult. I want her to see her father as an invincible superhero (even though I know I am not) who will always come to her rescue and protect her from evil.
Sometimes it is hard to grasp mortality. Somehow I feel I am too young still to worry about it. Maybe when I am 50. I like to believe that is my halfway point. When I think back to all of those stories I have experienced I take solace in them because I have that many or more still to live out, much in thanks to the godsend present of Nora.
Thanks to everyone who has wished me a happy birthday. I really appreciate it! I am going to take this time to tell a story, the story of my 40th birthday party (just so someday I do not forget what Sharon did for me :)
Sharon had threatened to throw me a party for my 40th for a while but it never materialized. Or so I thought. Sharon had also given up as it seemed to be too much work right now. However a week before my birthday she decided to go for it. And with the help of several friends she got things rolling.
I got a call from Jason on a friday telling me he got a few days off and wanted to come visit me for my birthday. That would be awesome as I figured it was just going to be Sharon and I along with Eric and Tracy going to dinner, but now we had a group forming.
Saturday came, the day when Sharon planned to have the party. She did not have to try and get me occupied as Jason and I already planned to play disc golf all day. This gave her free time to go around and get cakes, food and favors.
The evening came and I spoke with Eric, he suggested we meet at his house for some “fancy” drinks before going to dinner. That was nothing out of the ordinary so it did not send up a signal to me. BUt looking back there were plenty of signals I missed as well. Such as my friend Catfish’s text to Sharon that I somewhat read but did not think anything of him coming to Pensacola for my birthday. He just lives an hour away and figured we would meet people after dinner anyway. Also the seats in the back of the van were down from Sharon loading it with stuff. Sharon was acting very suspicious one day and asked if I had been looking at her texts. I thought she was just being weird or something. The mysterious phone conversations out of earshot. And others, but I remained oblivious.
On the way there, she seemed fine, and so did Jason. It was not until we pulled up to Eric’s house and the driveway was full. But again, the cars were April’s, Bob’s and Chris’s and I just thought maybe he asked them to cover over for a drink for my birthday before going to dinner. That would not be so out of the ordinary either as we all go to dinner together sometimes and it was my birthday.
It was not until I saw Wayne and Alice pull up and spotted Belinda’s car that I knew what was going on. I went inside and everyone was hiding and yelled surprised, it was out of the bag already but it still did not have any less impact. I was thrilled to see everyone there.
Sharon had a spread of food and my favorite cake, red velvet. The night was awesome. I wore my goofy birthday hat and glasses with pride. I got the obligatory cards poking fun at my old age. I blew out candles and best of all, my little Nora was there we me with.
Speaking of Nora, she was the center of attention and she soaked it up! She laughed and smiled all night. For hours she was passed around like a football. But we paid for it when we got home. Unbenounced to us, she was overstimulated. Which is an actual condition come to find out.
When we finally got her home she was a bearcat. It was like she was coming off a drug addiction. She was fussy to the point of rage. She was swinging and kicking for 2 hours. She was spitting mad :) Eventually when the high wore off she crashed and slept through the night. She had to be woken up the next morning to eat, then she went right back to sleep. She had what I call her first hangover :)