Today is my birthday, and I’d like you to celebrate with me. No, not buy me anything. Celebrate. Smile a little wider. Laugh from deep within. Love with all your heart. Giggle with you friends. Do something nice for someone else. Pay it forward. Stuff like that.
As I head into my mid-40s, I feel a shift coming. I thought 45 might be “middle age”, which kind of means old. But when I see my Grandma at 92 still living on her own and speaking her mind, I’m not sure what old looks like for my family. Part of me is afraid of “the late 40s” because my mom left this world when she was 47. But being afraid is something I work hard to limit. I really try to fear less.
In the coming months I’ll share some exciting information about what this next year holds. I have so many idea of what the next year will look like, and they’re all pretty amazing. Seriously, I think heading toward 45 may be my best year yet. So as I move forward, I thought I’d look back and share some things about me.
44 Things About Me
1. I’ve known my husband for 25 years.
2. I will celebrate my 19th wedding anniversary in a few weeks.
3. I played flag football when I was a kid because it was the only sport at the YMCA both my brother and I could do at the same time.
4. I’ve been to 1 Rose Parade. It was with my friend Jannis and her family when I was 12.
5. I am still very good friends with Jannis. She’s been to my wedding, I’ve been to hers, and our children know each other.
6. I was 8 years old when I met General Omar Bradley. I met him many more times after that, always talking to him sitting in his helicopter.
7. I was 18 when I met Pope John Paul II, having been invited to go see him with a dorm-mate.
8. I have more black clothing in my closet than any other color.
9. I don’t like lobster or crab.
10. I went to one Junior High for 3 days.
11. I lived in a house right on the beach when I was a kid.
12. My foreign languages in high school were Japanese and Latin.
13. I was in JROTC, which taught me how to read a map, fire a weapon, and keep my opinions to myself.
14. On my birthday I used to buy my mom a gift.
15. I am a huge Michael Jackson fan. Have been since I was a kid.
16. I hired a private investigator to find a childhood friend to reunite her with another friend as wedding shower gift.
17. My mom dropped the “h” from Sarah because she thought it looked weird with our last name.
18. I was the only girl on my high school High-Q team (a quiz bowl-type competition).
19. For my senior English project, a group of friends and I re-created Beowolf and made it into a movie.
20. I learned how to type in 7th grade on a manual typewriter without letters on the keyboard.
21. I’m a chocolate person.
22. I don’t drink coffee.
23. Water is my drink of choice. With very little ice. (Talk about a cheap date!)
24. I still remember when my mom brought me Burger King for lunch when I was in 2nd grade.
25. The first computer I ever used was a Mac Lisa.
26. I look exactly like my mom.
27. My daughter looks exactly like me.
28. I don’t usually wear my engagement ring. I stopped wearing it when I scratched my daughter when she was 2 weeks old.
29. I knew I wanted to be a lawyer when I was 7.
30. I’m a quality over quantity kind of gal.
31. I am Vitamin D deficient. Yes, I live in Arizona.
32. I have a very dry sense of humor.
33. My first concert was Men At Work.
34. I love Bette Midler. My favorite movie of hers is Isn’t She Great.
35. I once sat next to Connie Chung on a cross-country flight and she told me about her years as a news anchor.
36. I got my driver’s license when I was 17, despite getting in to an accident while in driver’s ed. (It wasn’t my fault!)
37. My friend Adriana and I used to drive ourselves to driver’s ed.
38. My longest friendship is with Rhonda (I call her my sister). We were penpals when I was 5 and she was 6.
39. One of my dearest friends I met online.
40. The last picture I have of my mother is from my college graduation.
41. I know more than I really should ever know about the mining industry. (This is stuff you learn as a law clerk in depositions with the world’s leading expert on mining.)
42. I don’t like camping.
43. I taught myself how to drive a stick shift.
44. I’ve had one dog as an adult. Her name was Jane and she was a Jack Russell Terrier. She lived to be 18 years old. I won’t get another dog.
Thank you for reading all the way through. Thanks for reading my blog and supporting me in this little home I have on the internet. I hope the year ahead for you is as extraordinary as I believe it will be for me.
I’ve read that there is folklore that whatever you do on your birthday sets to tone for the entire year. So, when I was invited to be a guest on This Week in Law today, I said yes! I probably could have gone to the spa, but talking about legal stuff with other lawyers who geek-out talking about the law is even better than going to the spa. And, well, you know how much I enjoy the spa.
Do something nice for yourself, and celebrate my birthday with me.
