If I had only had the experience from my mother and my sister then 40 meant it was all down hill from here. But luckily I have had a few great experiences with some very close friends that this age meant I was finally acknowledged in the world as wise and no longer being held to the ideals of the immature and sexist people in the world.
I think, now that I'm more than 3 months into my 40th year, that life is messy and wonderful. I am shocked daily at how many people come to me for advice on raising children. It humbles me, and also makes me proud, that our two incredible boys are a small reflection of the love that both Shannon and I give to them daily.
Prior to turning 40 I truly felt that I did not, could not, possibly know anything in life. And now I have realized how much I have grown as a human being - and how much farther I have to go before my time is up.
All of this said I have to say, my 40th birthday celebration was one of those moments in life where I questioned my sanity. My sister, the wise "older" sister assured me that our family get-together would be a blast and a great celebration of my moving into the 40 realm. And with that, the initiation was nothing short of transforming for me in many aspects.
We rented a beautiful cabin in the Appalachian mountains here in North Carolina and for 4 short days we were going to do some white water rafting, some walking around the mountains and maybe even some touristy/sight-seeing.
The cabin was absolutely gorgeous, as you can see here:
So the next part was the part that was eye opening, transforming, a reminder...whatever you would like to call it... the white water rafting!
Now, this is one of those moments where, after-the-fact you realize you should have put more time into researching - but it's your sister, right?! You are sure that she read all the details and knew what she was getting you into. Especially knowing that her "little" sister was fat and out of shape and knew how hard this could possibly be, right??
Well she gave me every opportunity to go and read it myself. But I did not! So shame on me.
We had all the grand plans of white water rafting, which would have been fun and cool. What we ended up doing was fun-yaking or duckying because the water level was too low from the drought we were having. So, what that meant was we had "blow up" kayaks that we went down a river on.
Now, normally that would be fun and cool but the part I missed was that this was an 11 mile trek! Yes, an 11 mile trek. That means an 8 hour day. Yes, 8 hours of paddling, keeping your legs, hands, arms and face exposed to the sun (I'm hoping that you are getting the picture here.)
So, my sons, who are healthy and in shape and my nephew who is also healthy and in shape... and, oh, let's not forget my sister who is healthy and in shape are all having a blast. My husband had a near death experience (for another time) and my brother in-law who is much healthier and in shape than me was almost as grumpy as me were all "suffering".
This suffering actually put me in a space, alone (thank goodness) on the calm river...with blisters, sunburn, dehydration, exhaustion, and charlie-horses in my calves, TEARS of "My god, please just shoot me and put me out my misery. Could someone please just come drive me home? Why can't I just stay the night right here, in this f-ing funyak (where there was NO FUN in it), etc."
Here is a photo of the start of the day....
Notice the happy smiles of Shannon and myself. Please don't let this fool you!
I have realized that I managed to not take any photos of my massive sunburn - which I think was the most painful part of this whole excursion. Everything else, the fatigue, the blisters, the frustration - well they have all passed now. Actually, they passed by the next day, except for the pain on my legs which kept reminding me of the stupidity (for 3 weeks).
I love my sister - more than I can ever impart. This was not her fault. I jokingly point my finger her way, but I know I am grown up to have taken responsibility to check it out. So please, sis, if you read this - know that I truly don't blame you as I know different!
The most amazing part was - when we were on the bus, heading back to their building where we started that morning - that I truly enjoyed the whole experience. How lucky am I that I had a day of beautiful weather, incredible family, and getting to a place where I knew that I had to finish, no matter how melancholic I got, and that I can always remember this experience as something fun, happy and exciting, though exhausting and painful, was mine, and mine alone!
Sisters - always and forever!
Family - always and forever!
