Ten years ago yesterday, I was sitting in a restaurant surrounded by friends and relatives with the realization that my 30th birthday, which I had spent a year dreading, was actually ushering in the best years of my life. I was single, in good health, young enough to do anything I wanted and old enough to no longer care what others thought of me.
It was brilliant.
In the intervening years I have been an Agricultural Extension Agent, a glowing bride, a stay-at-home mom, and a cuckolded wife. I have been divorced. I have seen domestic abuse up close and personal. I have caught a glimpse of the beauty that God can bring from our ashes.
Yesterday I turned 40. A shower of "Happy Birthdays" washed over me from family and friends via telephone and Facebook. My former mother-in-law spent the morning with the kids and me and participated in one of our "Movie Picnics," munching on Hawaiian pizza while watching Sleeping Beauty on blankets in the living room.
Afterwards, my kids and I went to my sister's for dinner. ("I don't need to get cleaned up," I thought. "It's only Sis.")
It wasn't only Sis.
It was my parents, both sets of grandparents, my siblings and their families, my aunts and uncles, my long-time friends. Two hours into the party, a spill down the stairs landed my sister and me in the ER for the night. There's a long story to go along with it, but imagine me in the ER covered in vomit for five hours, and you pretty much know how my birthday party ended! (No, there was no alcohol involved, and yes, everyone is okay!)
This is a warning to be careful what you wish for. My birthday wish twenty minutes before heading to the ER? "Please let this year be better than last year!"
My sister and I talked and laughed and commiserated non-stop. When I wasn't gagging at my malodorous aroma, I thought how nice it was to have an uninterrupted, grown-up conversation with her.
I also took stock of my life. I am making my living doing the one thing I have consistently pursued: writing. I am the proud mama of two charming, healthy, and intelligent children. I am surrounded by friends and family who love, cherish, and support me in every way I could ever need.
I am no longer young, but I am again single and still in good health. I am more comfortable in my somewhat saggy skin than ever before and more clear about who this person is . . . and who she is not. And in it all, I see the golden strands of God's infinite lovingkindness, provision, mercy . . . as well as His uncanny sense of humor!
Sis and I counted down the last 5 seconds of my 40th birthday amid the semi-hysterical giggles reserved for over-tired, over-talked, over-stressed siblings of a certain age.
It was brilliant.
