This is 40, Mom Edition

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girl blowing out birthday candles. Turning 40Turning 40 is a moment. It doesn’t have to be a big moment but it is one, nonetheless.

I’m having that moment. 

Thoughts on Turning 40

One thing I’ve learned in raising children is that you must document as much as you can. You will forget it all if you don’t. For this reason, I am now recording 40 thoughts to mark my 40th birthday to remind me – and anyone who loves me – of who I was in the year 2022. 

It is most definitely not a bucket list. A bucket list is just a to-do list and I don’t need another one of those right now. 

Maybe you can relate, or maybe it’ll inspire you to record your own thoughts on whatever birthday you next face. 

  1. Bluey is the perfect show. No notes.
  2. Few things are as exciting to me as a blank family calendar waiting to be filled in.
  3. I still hope to meet my idol Jennifer Garner and make her my best friend, something my actual best friend would fully encourage.
  4. Nostalgia feeds my soul. Movies from the ‘80s and ‘90s, high school journal entries, and old photographs make me warm and fuzzy.
  5. My perfect day most likely does not include my three children. At least, not for the whole day. Maybe for an hour when nobody is fighting or requiring food preparation.
  6. Parenting is the biggest challenge to any marriage
  7. I have no style. I don’t mean a trendy style, I simply mean I have no chosen style. I wear whatever is closest and the least dirty. I should change this.
  8. Why do men get less hair and women get more hair (in places we don’t want it) as we age? 
  9. There is no greater gift than someone else making you dinner.
  10. I long for the day when I can sit down in the vicinity of my children and not immediately be tackled.
  11. Laundry is a beast I will never conquer.
  12. 28 minutes of Netflix is far more satisfying than an equal amount of time spent doing housework.
  13. NPR makes me happy.
  14. Impromptu dance parties will always save the day.
  15. Potty training drains five years from your life.
  16. My daughter is my mini-me, and I’m not loving the mirror effect.
  17. Looking at Facebook creates an emptiness inside that can only be filled by therapy.
  18. Patio time with a friend will always save my mental health.
  19. Motherhood is not a competition. Motherhood is not a competition. Motherhood is not a competition. Motherhood is not…
  20. My belly fat is here to stay. Unless I want to give up holiday cookies, farmers market croissants, and the three children who complete my life.
  21. Social interactions make me sweat profoundly.
  22. I’m not a kid person. My own kids are the exception. 
  23. I make terrible homemade gifts. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop making them.
  24. The library is my palace.
  25. I’m too old to eat my feelings. But I’m pretty darn good at it.
  26. A 6-year-old’s opinion of my life is not an accurate reflection of reality.
  27. The common housefly is the most smug creature on earth and can inexplicably ruin my day. 
  28. Any problem can be solved with a book.
  29. My parents’ opinion will always matter, even when it very obviously shouldn’t.
  30. I should live in England.
  31. I want a nose piercing.
  32. Our 3-year-old is still waiting for my breasts to restart lactating, this time with M&M’s mixed in. I don’t even know who to blame for this.
  33. I used to think adulting meant you knew what was going on. I don’t believe that anymore.
  34. Our eldest child – now 9 – has more going on in his head than I will ever understand.
  35. My best friend will always be cooler than I am.
  36. Susan Glasser and Peter Baker are my #relationship goals.
  37. Too much screen time is a myth.
  38. The most romantic thing my husband could whisper in my ear is “Let me clean the toilets.”
  39. Anxiety is my superpower. I want a different superpower.
  40. I’m blessed and privileged in so many ways that I will never even understand.

What’s on your list?

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