By 40...

So I celebrated my birthday two months ago but honestly, my mind has been on my NEXT birthday for much longer than that. I celebrate the big 4-0 next February and I'm pretty excited about hitting a milestone.

20 years ago, 40 seemed like forever away.
15 years ago, I thought I was a "real" adult.
10 years ago, I couldn't believe I was in the middle of 20 and 40.
5 years ago, I decided that this 30 something life wasn't so bad.

And now, I'm convinced that 40 is going to be even better.

When my dad turned 40 the entire JCPenney office was adorned in black. The "ladies at work" pulled out all their tricks of in-store marketing and displayed tombstones, black balloons and an infinite amount of "over the hill" signs.

He did not take that well.

When my mom turned 40 we went to dinner but I don't remember any major hoopla. Perhaps it's because we were trying to be kind and pretend that she was still young (which she clearly was, but I was 11 so I didn't get that). Perhaps it was because she didn't want a huge celebration. Or perhaps it's because she's a mom and sometimes we get looked over. (LOVE YOU, MOMMA!)

When Jody turned 40 we surprised him by flying him to Texas for Thanksgiving.
When Jeremy turned 40 he wanted to ignore it because he doesn't like attention or getting older.

Ryan turns 40 in May and I'm not going to tell you what we have planned.

And soon... y'all... I AM GOING TO BE FORTY!

My friends have celebrated 40 in tons of different ways and I'm looking forward to this "road to 40" journey that the next 10 months will take me on. I've made a list of 40 things I'd like to do in this year and I've gotten a pretty good start. I'll share my thoughts from time to time and hope that you enjoy coming along on the ride with me.

Some items are silly.
Some items are hard.
Some items will require courage.
Some items will require time.

And I'm honestly excited about what I will discover through the process. I thought about sharing the entire list but I think I'm going to keep it to myself for a while. I do plan on journaling along the way and some of that will be included on the blog.

So to all of my friends that have done something similar - anything I should think about? What would you put on your list? What would you leave off your list?

Here's to the journey...not the destination....