The Title of my Blog Is a Lie Today

A few years ago, a friend of mine who had read my blog approached me and asked what I was going to call my blog when I turned 40.

"D'uh. I'm never turning 40, asshole," was my response.

Well, I'll be damned. Forty is officially here. (I stand corrected, @doctorjones).

Honestly, I never thought I'd need to change my blog title. I was going to be thirty-something (and sassy) for forever. Besides, thirty-something was a HUGE milestone. It took me years to come to terms with no longer being twenty-something.

For the record, I also hated turning 20 because someone told me, on my 20th birthday, that I couldn't go to Sugar Mountain anymore. You know, because I was too old. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but for a huge Neil Young fan, that news completely devastated me. To my core. It brought tears to my eyes. I never played that song on guitar again.

So it's pretty obvious that I have issues with entering new decades.

BUT NOT THIS ONE! Because I've decided to embrace 40. I'm embracing the hell out of it. I'm embracing it with a huge, strong-armed, lifting-it-off-the-floor, squeezing-it-so-tight-it-might pee-a-bit, bear hug.
The year approaching 40 has been awesome.

Steve and I got great promotions and genuinely enjoy our careers.

Our families are awesome, healthy and are able to help out whenever we ask (and sometimes even when we don't).

We have a network of friends that is so perfect that I couldn't have dreamt them all up - whether in our neighbourhood or our old school friends who live farther away, no matter when we all get together, we're welcomed and have a blast. And now that we're all 40 we all have money and/or power of some sort.

One of my friends just entertained us on his SAILBOAT - the one he bought with his very own money! Other friends regularly have us up to their cottage - the one they bought with their very own money! We drive up to see them in our car  - the one we bought WITH OUR VERY OWN MONEY!

Another friend was able to get us VIP tickets and backstage passes to see The Tragically Hip because she knows Paul Langlois (the guitarist). NOTE: This is the only way I will see concerts from now on - with VIP status or not at all. I'm not gonna be in the cheap seats like a sucker anymore. I'm 40 for crissakes. This may hinder my wish to see Pearl Jam and meet Eddie Vedder though so truthfully, I would break this rule to meet EdVed, just in case anyone has an "in"...

Our kids have accomplished incredible educational and athletic milestones (my 5/6 yo learned to play hockey, play soccer, swim without wings, ride a two-wheeler, tie his own shoes and READ during his SK year while my 7/8 yo played ice hockey and scored, ran relay in track and field practice and earned his green stripe in taekwondo during his grade 2 year - he also got his first concussion).

We were asked by a friend of mine to be in a magazine shoot for the Walmart Live Better Magazine (I finally made it into a glossy (!!!), although my original wish was to be paid to write for one someday, but whatever...I'm taking it). We said, "Sure, what the hell", And my boys nailed it! I was really proud of them - and so were they when they saw the pictures.

http://pinterest.com/pin/13299761372683529/

I have a pretty great little wardrobe, I can wear (and rock) high-heels like a pro, and I no longer care that my skin is freckly, dimply and a little drier than I'd like. I finally realize that: a) I'm not supposed to BE a supermodel so why have I been beating myself up for not looking like one and b) none of my friends like me for all of the ridiculous superficial reasons I used to think they liked me for.

Most importantly, at 40, I want for nothing (except for a clean and organized house, but that's another post).

What a great time in my life. It's so cliche but I really think it's true what everyone says: Forty is FREE! I've never felt more comfortable with myself. As. I. Am.

Sure, I still want to get running again, and I would love to lose 20 lbs, and I still hate that deep line in between my eyes that's getting deeper with every squint, but I want to make those improvements for ME. I know who I am now and who I want to be.

And it's not longing to be a teenager forever, which is what I felt when turning 20, mainly because I was afraid of having to be responsible for myself and not yet having a clue where my life was heading.

And it's not longing to be in my twenties, which is what I felt when turning 30, mainly because the expectations to buy a house and make babies was overwhelming and I was terrified of becoming a real-life grown-up!

And it's not longing to remain in my thirties like so many people expect me to. God, I wouldn't do my thirties over if I was paid to. What an awkward, life-changing decade, those thirties were - especially 30 to 36 with the whole pregnancy and new-mom thing that truly is complete and utter insanity.

Who I am at 40 is: Steve-marryin', two-kid-parentin', guitar-playin', top-of-my-lungs singin', Girls'-Night-Outin', business developin', high-heel kickin', magazine posin', wine-drinkin', cottage-lovin', Sassy-blog writin' ME! In one incredibly grammatically incorrect sentence.

So I will need to say good-bye to thirty-something-sass and show you what forty-something-sass is all about.

Soon, I will start writing with my forty-something voice. Hopefully my forties will get me writing more. I do find I have more things to say these days - just not much time to write it. But I might just have to find the time because the web needs some fortysomethingsass!

(Just to be clear, that's not talking about the ass of someone who's 40...it's really supposed to read like forty-something-sass not forty-something's ass...nevermind. But that's where you'll find me, @ http://forty-something-sass.blogspot.ca/)

Ssy out.