Monday, August 4, 2014

The Big Four-Oh

Forty snuck up on me this summer. Well, "snuck up" meaning that it came banging on pots and pans and whooping and hollering. Yes, the month before my 40th birthday I cried. "I'm turning 40," I lamented to my daughters, "...and I'm getting divorced," sob, gasping for breath, "...and I know I wanted it, but it's hard and I'm old and feeling alone," deep inhalation with tears, "...and I'm so glad I'm in med school," quiver and shake, "...but it is just so tiring," gasp, "...and now my head hu-ur-urts!" This was met with awkward stares from my 18 and 16 year old girls. Did I mention I was driving at the time? We had taken a little girls' weekend. It was fun. It was girlie. But my last huzzah at being 39 was slipping away.

Now that I'm on the other side of 40, I can breathe a little easier. It happened. And I didn't die. And my ex-husband and I get along amicably. And school, well...school is restarting today, so who knows? My plan is not to let it get quite so tiring this year.