cheers, beers, and 40 years

Yesterday was my husband's 40th birthday. We took the afternoon off and went to the horse races and won enough money to buy one-and-a-half overpriced cocktails. I tried to drum up some pithy post, but per usual as of late, I came up empty handed.

Dr. Crabby, my alter ego.

My only profound revelations were:

1) We'll never be too old to pre-party in the parking lot.
2) We'll never be so rich that $16 dollar drinks don't seem like a total rip off.
3) I already knew I married a giant man-child, and had long given up the ghost of him "growing up," (which, though it often drives me insane, is part of why I love him - he prevents me from evolving entirely into the 98 year old woman I am at heart). But I think I am ready to stop waiting for the day when I am knighted as a real-life grown-up, when I officially "arrive" at adulthood. I'm starting to think this is an elusive and mythical destination. I, personally, have never had less of a clue what in the Sam Hill I was doing in my life. But you know what? That's okay. I'm learning to roll with it.

"You're in pretty good shape for the shape that you're in."

Oh. This might be one of those "had to be there" things, but, after the races we went out to dinner. We were sitting across the table from our two cousins, and there was a mirror in the wall behind them. Being vain, I was sort of covertly checking myself out in the mirror and I was thinking, dang! My arms look good! Must be that 7 minute workout I did that one time! And when did I get so tan?!

Then I realized it was a window not a mirror.

"My hair looks awesome today! Oh, wait..."
My tanner fitter doppelganger definitely thought I was a big weirdo.  

Also, remember these?

Hopefully this candy is not actually from 1975.

Remember when they used to make candy in the shape of cigarettes? Can you imagine what internet moms would do if these were sold in candy shops today? The 21st century has zero chill ;)

DM's gifts from my sister and bro-in-law. Personally I would have gone with Werther's Originals instead of Almond Roca but still, solid showing, Sis. "Apparently God put in-laws on this Earth to make you feel special on your birthday." -DM

That picture actually reminds me. I don't know why I have this recurring theme of Depends in my life. But anyway. Before I had my first child, a dear cousin-in-law told me to get Depends and wear them to the hospital, and post-delivery as well. She just said it was a lot more comfortable and less messy and saved you from ruining your underwear. So, I followed her direction. And I showed up to the hospital and they got me into a gown and the nurse said, "Okay, let's get you out of your underwear so we can check you." I replied, "I'm wearing Depends." And she responded something along the lines of, "What in the actual fuck?" Apparently this was not standard practice.

The End :)

"I am convinced that most people do not grow up...We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are innocent and shy as magnolias." - Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter

"I am still every age that I have been. Because I was once a child, I am always a child. Because I was once a searching adolescent, given to moods and ecstasies, these are still part of me, and always will be... This does not mean that I ought to be trapped or enclosed in any of these ages...the delayed adolescent, the childish adult, but that they are in me to be drawn on; to forget is a form of suicide... Far too many people misunderstand what *putting away childish things* means, and think that forgetting what it is like to think and feel and touch and smell and taste and see and hear like a three-year-old or a thirteen-year-old or a twenty-three-year-old means being grownup. When I'm with these people I, like the kids, feel that if this is what it means to be a grown-up, then I don't ever want to be one. Instead of which, if I can retain a child's awareness and joy, and *be* fifty-one, then I will really learn what it means to be grownup." - Madeline L'Engle

"People never grow up. They just learn how to act in public." (Usually). - Bryan White