Turning 40

I turned 40 yesterday.  I had a small meltdown at the mall in the morning but other than that, I can say I have been pretty relaxed about it.  I like how I can see the glimmers of wisdom that old age brings, but those mortality issues kind of bite.

Luckily I have the best husband and the best of friends.

They planned a surprise party for me.  So when we stopped to get some cash at the ATM, a limousine  bus was waiting to whisk us all off for a night of revelry in Tokyo.

After some champagne toasts with our red Solo cups, we arrived at the New York Bar in Tokyo….where Bill Murry and Scarlett Johansson were in the movie Lost In Translation.  If you have never seen this movie, watch it. Now.)

This place was crazy insane classy.

Beyond fun.

It was the party of a lifetime. 

Even the toilets were sophisticated. 

My favorite birthday present was the poem that my husband  wrote for me and read in front of everyone.

It made me cry.

Thank you to my husband for the best birthday ever.  Thank you to Kelly for planning everything for my husband so he could take me out for my best birthday ever.  Thank you to all of my friends for the presents and love on the best birthday ever.

I might just have to turn 40 every year!

 “The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.” Bill Murry as Bob, in Lost in Translation.

A Quiet Morning

“Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he comes and rains righteousness on you. “  Hosea 10:12

I spent half the day bitter and angry yesterday.  Long story short, a best friend’s ex-husband arrived in Japan yesterday.  Since this isn’t a huge Air Force base we live on, it was inevitable that I would be running into him at some point in the next three years.  Lucky for me, about five hours after he landed, my husband and I saw him and his new wife, skipping across the street through our neighborhood.  Awesome.

After waking up this morning and starting to stew a bit more over the situation, I decided I needed to quietly sit down and to do a little bible study. (Something I have been neglecting lately.)

The very first verse in the study I am following was the one above.  Hosea repeatedly uses illustrations about fields and crops.  In this verse he mentions a plowed field that is ready to receive seeds.  The soil is no longer stony and hard, but has been carefully prepared and is ready.

Loud and clear I had to ask myself, “Is your life ready for God to work in it?” 

All too often, my heart is hard and unplowed.  Instead of being ready for God’s guidance, forgiveness, and righteousness, I get selfish (I want my friend to be here in Japan, not some other girl) and angry (Why does life seem so unfair sometimes?).  I forget to let God be in control.

I am still not sure what I will do if I run into this guy and his new wife face to face. Since my husband and I used to be friends with him, it might be a little bit awkward.  What I do know, is that my heart can be ready for God’s guidance in situations that are hard.  This one is really hard.  My friend is now a single mom.  Her boys have a dad that lives half way across the world.  My good friend’s ex, has his own struggles that I cannot even begin to understand.

Fortunately for all of us, God is always there and his righteousness will rain down for us if we let it.  The question is…….Is your heart ready for it?

We Are All Just Mommies and Wives

I think she was my first REAL best friend.  We met in 6^th grade but I can’t remember where…..maybe band?

We both had the same dorky glasses, dirty blonde hair, and ugly nerd coats.

We were going to be archaeologists or the next Lewis and Clark.  We would go on great adventures looking for ancient artifacts or trekking through what we thought was uncharted wilderness. We were too young to care about boys and it didn’t matter anyway, because neither of us owned a bra yet.

We used to play and camp down by the river near her house.  Looking back I am surprised we didn’t die.  Making fires, severe dehydration, and seeing how deep we could go into the river before nearly being swept away……what were we thinking?

Then, in 7^th grade or so, she had to move. No more covering ourselves in mud down by the river.  No more dancing to our Madonna tape.  No more buying any more Shetland ponies at the school carnival without asking our parents. (Yes we bought a pony…at a silent auction…for something like six dollars. Our parents weren’t super excited about that one.) 

Life went on.  We wrote a bit and even got to see each other one more time, but we were twelve when we said goodbye.  Junior high, high school, boys, college, marriage, kids….etc.  And life just went on.

Suddenly, it was almost 25 years later, and I decided to look her up on Facebook.  And there she was…..my dear friend.

Like any good stalker would do, I Googled her.  What if she has play dates with Julia Roberts and I am a stay-at-home mom with butts to wipe and my hair in a ponytail?  What if she is a celebrity and I am….just me?

Turns out, she wasn’t a famous movie star or anything like that.  Oh no no no….it was much worse than that.  In different articles I found out things like she was a “former US female paragliding champion signing autographs as her equally famous husband looks on”, and also has a “PhD in Biochemistry”! 

Dang.  Really?  I am really going to ask her to be my Facebook friend?  With my heart pounding, I hit “send friend request”.  (Along with a little note that said something along the lines of, “Hey, this is Lynn….you know Lynn, and we loved the song, “Like A Virgin”, but I’m not sure we knew what a virgin was?  Lynn….that one girl who shared your wigwam or Hogan/teepee with you on that archaeology field trip?  Lynn, your best friend forever and ever that ate a LIVE minnow with you down by the river? )    

So there I was.  Three kids, a partial degree in Anthropology, and a US champion of nothing, except for maybe Elementary School Bake Sale ideas……and she accepted my friend request.

I was IN!!!  Whoo hoo!  I scanned her profile, scoped out her hubby, and lined up our children, cute to ugly.

Hmmmmmm.

Okay, my point really is that she is wonderful!  She is my old best friend, except all grown up.  Her baby girl is beautiful and she is obviously an incredible mommy! Her husband has to be awesome just because she picked him, and I am pretty sure she would give me her autograph if I asked for it.  Turns out, we both ended up as a mommy and a wife....just a different path.  No better, no worse.  Okay maybe if we are counting medals and diplomas, hers is better.  But if we are counting diapers changed and preshool graduations...I totally win.

Beefcake(using an old nickname here), thank you for being my friend so many years ago.  I am very proud of all your accomplishements and happy that you are well.  I hope someday we can meet face to face again.  I hope we can go running in a race together.  I hope my kids can babysit your kids while we go out on a double date with our husbands. (I mean why else did I have all my kids so much earlier than you?) I hope you never make me go paragliding with you because I would piss my pants.  Mostly I hope, while I drag my kids all over the world, that they meet people like you along their travels. 

Oh yeah…..not only is my friend a champion and a doctor…..she is a talented metalwork artist too! http://www.thesilverpearl.etsy.com/  Aren't these earrings AMAZING?

 I wrote this post for Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop......you should go there too!

 And I found a Flashback Friday!