Viva Las Me

So I went to Vegas. For my 40th, because there's nothing like easing into a big birthday with $14 mojitos by the pool and $10 Miller Lites at the Flamingo watching Donny and Marie.

Expensive, but worth every penny.

We managed to talk 12 other people into spending the weekend of the Kentucky Derby in smoky casinos and smoking hotel pools (The Encore has one of those fancy "European Bathing Pools" that require you to be 21 and camera-less. The only topless Europeans I saw were some hairy old Greek men smoking cigars.) We arrived on Friday and walked the strip and had drinks on the Bellagio patio overlooking the fountain. After gambling, we hopped on over to Paris for dinner and then back to gambling along the strip. Heaven.

Saturday was spent by the pool. And speaking of topless men, Sean started his tan tattoo for luck.


Later, the women folk went to Donny and Marie (Fabulous!) Incredibly cheesy, but when you go to see Donny and Marie at the Flamingo, well, you pretty much know what you're in for.

Sunday was more time at the pool, gambling, and then off to my favorite restaurant in the world--a little French hole in the wall that is absolutely divine. The story is that Bobby Darren named it back in 1974 and it is a favorite haunt by anyone who comes to Vegas. I can see why. Tucked in between a barb-wired hair salon and a burned out gas station, you would never find it in a million years.

But we did, and I'm glad.




Afterward, we went to the old Vegas--Freemont Street--and suffered smoke inhalation and second-hand alcoholism, but it was fun.



And now I'll have to continue easing into 40 in Eastern time. It's going to be a long process, so stay tuned.

Look how hilarious my ex-friends are...

They also have flat tires in their driveways and toilet paper hanging from their trees, but they are hilarious.

My Mommy turned 40 and all I got was this lousy potholder

My mother used to have a red and white picnic-checked potholder hanging in the kitchen over the monolith of a microwave that read, “I’d rather be 40 than pregnant!”

I didn’t get it.

At 14 years old, both of those things seemed to be equally as horrifying in my adolescent mind.

Fast forward a couple of decades and four pregnancies later, and I think I’m being let in on the joke.

When I first read that potholder, I figured on the morning I turned 40, I’d wake up in a spiraling pit of depression. Or wrinkle beyond recognition. Or at the very least, something would fall off. I’d get a craving to eat dinner at 3:00 in the afternoon and listen to the oldies station on the radio.

What I failed to take into account -- and a big difference between 14 and 40 -- is that by this great big birthday, I would be in the throes of motherhood, and perspectives certainly change here.

Those pregnancies that preceded this birthday produced four beautiful, healthy children that I love beyond words, and being in this moment with them is my greatest joy. And while I’m sure the potholder-author’s original intent was to make a bad joke rather than suggest an introspective philosophy on aging, for me there is a deeper meaning of this gag gift. Now that I’m here, I realize that after our skin gets stretched out from childbearing and wrinkles a little on the edges, it’s now when we at last become the most comfortable in it.

I may be a little grayer and not carded nearly as often, but that only delays the purchase of champagne to toast a very full life of many blessings anyway.

So throw me what you’ve got, Forty -- I’m ready.

I’ve got an oven mitt with your name on it.

(Cross-posted on Whoa Momma.)

Don't put those candles away yet

April is a big birthday month around here, and we've had some big birthdays to celebrate lately.



Jessie turned 3 and she got the Spongebob cake she's been begging for for 6 months. It was on display at Publix and since we are there every other day, she had time to form desire for the thing. She didn't need presents after that...



And today is Matty's big day which meant a Storm game and sleepover. Actually it was more of an -over, since very little sleep was involved.



For any of us.




And we won't even talk about the next family birthday quite yet.

Countdown to 40--Foresight

In just a few short weeks, I turn 40.

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that yet because we've had a few more pressing issues of late to deal with, but long before hospitals and doctors, we decided we'd celebrate this momentous occasion with a weekend in Vegas.

I haven't allowed myself to think about this let alone get excited, but as we move farther away from cardiac issues and closer to April, I find an excitement building quietly.

We chose Las Vegas because it's fun. A few friends are joining us there. We are going to lounge around resort pools without having to stay at the shallow end. We are going to watch cheesy shows and cheesier people on the strip. We're going to laugh a lot. And eat. And even gamble.

And even though we planned this birthday getaway months ago, it turned out to be absolutely perfect timing.

Maybe there is something to this age and wisdom thing.