40
Family

Forty

Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

Hmm, so I just turned 40. Honestly, so far, it feels just the same as 39.

I could write lots of things about how I was when I was born, when I was 13 or 18, 21 or 30. But, from my point of view, all those milestones are artificial. In fact, why am I even marking my fortieth birthday any differently from my 38th?

Five years ago, looking towards our “big birthdays” and our tenth wedding anniversary two years ago, we planned a big party for the in-between year. That would have been summer 2020.

Well, that didn’t happen!

So here I am, with some suitably middle-aged gifts (bike, Garmin watch for running, handbag, gin, and so on), a lovely meal out with my family, hugs from my parents, a husband who brings me balance, support and love, a pair of fabulous boys, various groups of wonderful friends, my blogging community, a job that I enjoy (mostly) and a home that meets our needs.

What more could I possibly want?

(Long term readers know that there’s a third little boy missing from our lives. Apart from him though, fulfillment is here.)

PS I did also run a half marathon on my birthday… see RED 40: running for forty days.

Published by Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

Rants, rambles, loss, gin, guests, recipes, funny kids, occasional poems, and a bit of running.

59 thoughts on “Forty”

  1. Pingback: RED 40: running for forty days – Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

  2. Well, happy belated birthday then! 🙂 I love your blog (and twitter) title. I have three girls and one little boy. Smelly socks–yes. Our garden peas never tasted good, but we have loads of garden tomatoes. Definitely not the same ring to that as peas. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. I just happened upon your blog as a fellow technical writer. Or really a newbie, but TW nonetheless. Happy belated birthday. I am moments away from the same and what you said really resonated with me, who made that age a thing. why is it any different than 38 or 42. Society makes things more than they are… Leading to more midlife crises. Hope it was perfect.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. Pingback: The week gone by — Aug. 15 – A Silly Place

  11. Okay – it’s time – tell me you had the magical 40th awakening today finally? Haha
    A very happy birthday to you! Recognising and enjoying all those gifts you have (& received!) is so special. But after that we’re polar opposites – bring on the weeklong fanfare, drums, red carpet, the works! (If you’re tempted there’s still lots of time for that…the whole month to be precise)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. Happy birthday! I celebrated my 40th birthday in style 4 years ago. I wanted to treat myself. The most important thing, despite the passage of time, is to be surrounded by our loved ones and to be grateful for what we have. Happy birthday again!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. What more could you want? Chocolate!

    I’m sorry I’m so late with getting to blogs – HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY! 🥳🥳🥳 Yours was a day after mine then, and you seem a lot less grumpy than I 😆

    I hope you had a lovely day and that your 40s treat you kindly. xxxxx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. Smelly – you look absolutely amazing and welcome to your 40’s. All three of us are in our 40’s and we cannot tell you what a blast we are having. Life is so much more interesting because we can be the people we want to be, chose the friends we want to have and generally navigate through life the way we want. Sure we get mad at the world (alot) but 40 really is where we have found the ground and sky at the same time. We are grounded in our humanity and we are connected in a way we never thought was possible – the confidence that we have found has been astounding. So here is to you and your life. You are not middle aged, you are embracing a new decade. With so much love and respect – T.B.C xxx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  24. I agree with you 100%. We make such a big deal about these milestones but they are not really any more important than other days or other birthdays. When I turned 50, I specifically didn’t want a big celebration so I planned a trip to England. I celebrated by going out for a quiet lunch with my daughters, my sister and her husband, and my nephew and his partner. (My husband was back in Canada – he could only get 2 weeks off work so he joined us later). It was perfect.

    You are truly blessed. Enjoy the gin – and the other presents – but especially the gin!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  30. Happy birthday!! It will be my turn in 3 months and I feel a bit the same as you, it’s not really any different to 39. I freaked out at turning 30 because it seemed to me that you definitely were an adult then, but 40 is like well, here I am, if that makes sense. Anyway, I wish you a wonderful birthday and lots of happiness (and cake!) 🥳🎂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.