My Birthday

(This post was written 2 weeks ago [February 24th]--I just now got around to posting it.)

Today was my 40th birthday. Happy? Not necessarily. Sad? Not really. It's just when you're a kid, time goes soooooo slow. Then, when you're an adult, time goes sooooooo fast! How did 40 get here so quickly? The baby picture of me above says 9 weeks old on the back of it. Look at all of that hair and chubby face. :-) The picture below is one of my senior high school pics (so approximately 1/2 my age ago). I remember at this age so excited thinking that finally being an adult was here. Boy, little did I know that another 20 years would get here before I could blink.

I have wondered how my parents feel about me turning 40. When my oldest is 40, I will be 70. That's 30 years from now, but it doesn't seem that far away. I know it all--you're only as old as you feel, age is all about attitude, 40 is just a number, you're young at heart, etc., etc. Even with all of that said, I still can't help but think about life, and time, and growing older. Well, before I start contemplating that too much, I thought I'd throw in a pic of what I look like at 40.

Let me tell you about my day. It was pretty ordinary. We did homeschool. The kids went to their YMCA class. Oh, but then there was the right rear passenger tire blowing out on the way home from the Y.

It wasn't dangerous. The kids and I heard a loud sound and wondered what it was. Then we could feel and hear the funny sound we were making on the road, and the tilt of the van. We knew what had happened and knew what tire it was. (The same part of the van that did this to us in the spring or summer). We were close to home, probably 3 miles. I pulled over onto the nearest road off of the main road to avoid traffic. It was a sandy country road that was wet and muddy from all of the rain last night.

I called Roger and he said I could attempt to change the tire myself because he couldn't quite get off work yet. I decided to try, even though I hadn't done this before, but I've watched Roger. I read the car manual and understood it, so I thought, yeah, I can do this. I called home and asked my sister to come so that the kids could sit in her car while I worked on the van. I also asked her to bring some old towels or sheets I could put under me to avoid the mud--she found a tarp in the garage; yea sis! Oh, did I mention it was very sprinkly, gloomy, cold, and windy? Bbbrrrrr. And that's not all.....when I first got out of the van to look at the tire, I slipped in the mud and fell! My shoes got all muddy, but I had fallen towards the middle of the road on my hands and knees instead of the side where all of the mud was, so I didn't get too dirty. Yea??!!

Our spare tire is under the van. On the inside of the van up front between the seats is a hole (I'm not sure what else to call it) where you stick a metal tool bar into and twist and it lowers the spare from the van onto the ground. I did that just fine. Then, you have to use the hook and pull the tire out from under the van. In order to do this, I had to jack the car up. I tried, and tried, but just couldn't get the van raised. I called Roger and he said I needed a board to make the ground more level and create a hard surface for the jack to sit on. It was decided that my sister would take me home and when Roger got off work, he would come and change the tire. So, about 3 hours later we were all back up on that road and Roger got the tire changed successfully. The nice farmer who lived in the house that I had parked in front of even came out to see if we were okay and needed help. Very friendly of him considering the wind was really blowing and it was freezing cold by this time. I am so thankful to God though, that we did not have to deal with any snow, pouring rain, or icy drizzle. All things considered, it could have been worse.

Once we got home, Roger made french toast with my favorite homemade honey wheat bread I had made earlier in the day and some turkey bacon. That is what I chose for my birthday dinner and it was yummy. He had also brought home a cake for me.

I received a lot of well wishes, gifts and cards from family and friends that made me feel so special on this gloomy, ordinary, tire-blowing day. My kids kept giving me hugs and kisses and telling me happy birthday--I LOVED this soooo much! And, I am excited to say that my celebrating isn't over yet. We're going to go out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants this weekend--Texas Roadhouse! I have fully warned Roger that he better not tell the restaurant it is my birthday because there is no way I want to sit on a saddle and wave a kerchief yelling Yee-Haw and getting my picture taken. Then, in March Roger and I get to go away for 2 nights out of town for a special celebration that involves something on my list of things I want to do in life. I'm not telling people what it is yet, but I can hardly wait!

Update: We went to Texas Roadhouse with my parents, sister, and nephew, and Roger earned some good husband points by not alerting the restaurant that it was my birthday. The next night we went to our small group where Roger sneaked in a huge birthday cake; I cannot believe I didn't see any of this happen. It was a total surprise and my friends were so sweet and sang Happy Birthday to me. I have to admit that it made me feel special, even though I told them they didn't have to do it.