Last week was crazy and looking back on it I realized it was full of milestones for every facet of my life. I should have something quirky to say right here to peak your interest and hope you'll take time out of your life to read about mine but I'm too tired to try that hard right now. Oh, and I turned forty. FOUR. OH. Like oh shit you're old now. So forgive me?
Is it me or were those who told me that everything changes overnight when you hit forty right?
We had already celebrated officially since Hubby also hit this milestone last month so we picked a day in the middle and had our good friend cater a fabulous meal for us and our closest friends. It was amazing - both the company and the evening. And so when the official day of my birth arrived, it seemed kind of anti climactic. I got to do exactly what I wanted to do all day which included a whole lot of sitting around without guilt and getting caught up on movies. Oh, and a trip to the running store WITHOUT KIDS. It was a decadent hour of my life that I will cherish since it happens rarely. A couple of days later I was at the doctor's for my annual checkup and since it's the first of the year I had to fill out yet another new page of demographic and insurance information "for their files" and paused just slightly when it came to that blank next to "Age:" How brutal to have to write that number before I'd even had time to process it let alone embrace it.
I quickly got over this insane milestone that, when I was young, I heralded as the beginning of old age. After all, I don't look forty and I sure as hell don't act forty. Plus I'm in better shape physically and mentally than I ever was at thirty. Besides, I didn't have time to wallow since Baby Sister turned two under a week later.
Apparently I suspected subconsciously that "they" were right about the mind being the first to go. Because I had individually told everyone on the guest list in my head to save the date for the birthday party for Baby Sister in the weeks before my birthday. Lucky for me since I remembered to send out an actual invite (via email) with details three days before the party and stressed that no one would show up because I didn't remember having invited everyone already. Seriously, totally off my game!
Lucky for us, too, we learned the right lessons with Big Sister. Like the one that says "until your kid is old enough to remember the birthday party you shouldn't go overboard on it". We kept it low key with dinner for our immediate family. The three or four people Baby Sister sees on a regular basis and who comprise her world came later for ice cream and cake. It was perfect - well, except for that page I got at the end of the evening since I couldn't get out of my on-call shift. The next day on her official birthday she got her ears pierced. She's officially a big girl and I'm sad to lose my baby forever.
Another milestone in the last week involved work. I'm busier than I've been in years. Literally. The entire week I didn't leave the office until after 5:30. I've been thrown on a new project - which I love - but not only do I have to come up to speed in the middle they are in the throws of major conversions so there's not a lot of leeway for me to learn everything before I am required to perform new duties. Gives new meaning to "sink or swim" that I hear all the time but never experienced before. Plus, I've been assigned as the primary trainer for two new hires which carves out two hours of every day devoted to sitting in a conference room talking theory and principles and not doing any real work of my own. Oh, and did I mention the slacker on my team who is supposed to take my pager shifts and hasn't been? It all has turned into a perfect storm of high-stress and no time to run at work which makes Terra a very bitchy woman.
And then Friday - on top of everything else - my laptop decided to die. It may or may not have been a result of someone trying to help fix the issues I was having and making it worse. Now I could connect to the network in the conference room for training but not anywhere else in the building. Makes it really hard to work that way. In all fairness the hunk of outdated hardware had been on its last leg for months but this timing sucked. I ended up losing a full day and a half of productivity. Friday ended with me skipping my planned trip to the gym and coming home to yell at the kids, pour a very large adult beverage and plop on the couch for the evening to drink it and decompress. I needed it so much I didn't feel more than a twinge of guilt for not running. I was emotionally and physically drained and it would have been a shitty run anyway.
I am still struggling to get back to running shape for proper Ragnar training which started officially today. I did three miles but the last two thirds were all walk/run fartleks where I pushed myself harder than I normally would have for a training run. Hoping it pays off next time I go out and my heart and lungs are in better shape.
Last week also marked a milestone in my writing. I submitted the first three chapters of my rough draft from NaNoWriMo to my writer's group for critique. It's been years since I had any work I thought worthy of being seen by others. Two NaNos had come and gone and my beloved writer's group hadn't gotten to see the fruits of my labors or their encouragement. I was so stressed between hitting send on the email and getting feedback at our meeting. But it turns out they liked what I'd written and wanted more. Plus they gave me some great feedback on ways to tighten things up. Considering it was a true rough draft from NaNo land of "write first, ask questions later" I was happy and encouraged. They make me feel like a real writer.
So here's to life which marches on and delivers milestones in the weirdest places sometimes. Do you ever have weeks where everything happens all at once in every area of your life or is it just me?
