I’ve been avoiding writing this blog for several days now even though it’s been floating around in my head for much longer. Although honestly, I’m not sure why – I have nothing but good things to share. Maybe it’s some deeply hidden malaise, or maybe it’s fear of tempting fate, or maybe it’s just laziness. I’m tending toward thinking it’s the latter in which case, I should just get on with it.
So what do I have to share? Well, quite a lot actually. For starters, here is a cover of my fourth book due out shortly:
It’s a little creepy and I love it – don’t you? There is something about seeing little kids near fire that just kind of makes me cringe and think “oh, boy, what’s coming next.” Of course, I could tell you what comes next, but that would just ruin the fun. You’ll have to read it to find out ☺. But what I can tell you is that I’ll have more information coming soon regarding early readers and release dates!
So what else is there to share on this lovely day? Well, today is my birthday – yay, me (well, really I should say “yay mom and dad, thanks for having me” but you know what I mean). Yep, today I turn forty; four decades of life is now complete. It’s been a mostly great four decades – a little heartache here and there, but for the most part, I’m more lucky/blessed/grateful than anything else. Like sixteen and twenty-one, there is no denying that the fortieth birthday has social/cultural significance – even if you believe forty is the new thirty (which I don’t, by the way. Don’t get me wrong, I like thirty well enough, but I like forty better).
My life isn’t perfect. I wish I could get in a little more exercise, sometimes I wish I had just a little more patience and a bit more wit, and sometimes I want to just get away from it all and hole up in some cabin by myself and have no responsibilities toward anyone or anything for even just a little while.
But the truth of it is, I have a husband I still love after almost sixteen years of marriage, two kids I both love and like, parents and family I’m close to, and friends that make my world shine. I also live somewhere extraordinarily beautiful, have a job I like, work with people I respect, and my fourth book is coming out soon – really, how cool is that?
So while I am grateful and thankful for everything the last four decades has brought me, I’m not going spend today focusing on being grateful. I’m going to spend it celebrating – you might think it’s the same thing and maybe it is. But in my mind, I have a lot to not just be thankful for but a lot to celebrate, a lot to enjoy, a lot to laugh about, and, if the past forty years were anything to go by, a lot to look forward to. Cheers to you all and I hope you have lots to celebrate, too!