Psst. Hey, you.
Yes, YOU.
Do you know what tomorrow is?
And I was rather inspired by reading a birthday blog post recently by The Militant Baker blogger, so I decided that this year, in honor of my 48th birthday, I'd try to follow suit and list all the best things I learned while I was 47. I mean really, we all learn stuff on a fairly regular basis if you think about it. And birthdays are a great time to reflect on all that semi-awesome and painstakingly acquired new knowledge, don't you think?
A lot can happen in a year. And even though I never really feel any different on my birthday than I do any other day of the year, it's still a special sort of day. Kind of. So I guess my gift to myself--and to all of you, no doubt--is some shared moments and milestones from the past 365 days.
So, in no particular order, here's what I've learned...
- I love Outlander almost as much as I love The Vampire Diaries. And, dude, that's a LOT.
- Hot dogs taste best with just mustard. Just. Mustard.
- I'm an invisible loser on Twitter, and that's OK.
- One phone call can change your whole perspective on people, and life in general.
- Painting is my favorite escape.
- Sometimes a song can say everything you can't put into words.
- My instincts are usually dead right.
- I don't like "hard apple ale." I hate it, in fact.
- I do like Moscato. A lot.
- Sex with the Hubs, like a good wine, improves with age. Yowza! (Apologies to my daughter--for the embarrassment--if she's reading this.)
- Losing weight is never going to be easy for me, but I have to keep trying.
- I can still write a fairly good poem.
- Being an Executrix is hard F'n work. 2 years of it was more than enough.
- I'm growing tired of Pizza. I know. The horror.
- Naps are highly underrated.
- I'd rather sit at home with the Hubs on a Saturday night, watching a movie, than almost anything else in the world.
- Life isn't perfect, but it isn't supposed to be.
- Menopause isn't for sissies.
- Unwanted facial hair is the bane of my existence.
- Pitch Perfect is still just as funny at the 11th viewing as it is at the 1st. A-ca believe it.
- A healthy infatuation with Ian Somerhalder isn't the worst thing in the world I could have.
- I can control my bitchy-ness. Sometimes.
- iPhones that get updated and then won't sync across devices are a crime against humanity.
- Fat girls should seriously think twice before attempting to hike down to Old Man's Cave in Hocking Hills, Ohio. Getting down is easy. Getting up is a totally different story. I give myself points for the attempt--and making it 2/3 of the way down before I realized I'd probably drop dead if I went any further.
- Husbands who appreciate fat girls' hiking attempts are the best husbands in the world.
- My daughter's smile brings me complete happiness.
- My grandkids proved that my heart can hold more love than I ever thought possible.
- Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime make my TV worth having.
- It's OK to read 50 Shades of Grey. Even a few times.
- My value is not determined by my weight.
- It's OK to cry.
- I may never finish all the books on my Goodreads To Read list. And I can live with that.
See there? That's quite a bit of learnin' happening in the past year. I could have kept going (rambling is one of my super powers after all), but hey, it's my birthday weekend. That's right. We don't limit birthdays to a single day in this house. It's a whole weekend or nothing! And it's party time.
[And of course by "party," I mean dinner at Red Lobster, a little shopping, then maybe a movie at home with the Hubs.]
Party on.
