That is me. I just turned *gulp* 40. I spent my 40th birthday taking in the sights of Yellowstone. We stayed at a cabin at Old Faithful and enjoyed our view of the geyser erupting every 91 minutes.
One of the best road trip birthday gifts a husband can give a wife who has been connected nearly every minute of her life to a child/ren for the past 34 days is an hour alone. Alan took the kids for a drive to scout for wildlife and left me alone at our cabin. I bought myself a tall ice cream cone and took a good book and went and sat at a bench in front of Old Faithful.
So this is 40, I thought. I had been preparing for this day for the past 364 days. I was going to lose 20 pounds. I was going to get braces. I was going to take a 10 day excursion to Italy. I was going to leave the decade that I had just birthed and nursed my way through and start this next decade with a bang. I was going to be fabulous.
I didn't get braces. I gained 5 pounds instead. I wasn't even close to Italy. The only bang I was experiencing was my forehead pounding against the wall when I walked into our cabin that afternoon to find it had no a/c, filled with mosquitoes and the gross comforters that you use tongs to remove before you will even put your purse down. We were to find ourselves that night not sleeping a wink, sweating to death and Eliza throwing up all night.
Happy birthday to me.
It was a day that you just have to get through. The day after you turn 40 is a much better day than the day you turn 40.
But I loved my hour alone with my ice cream, my book and my Old Faithful geyser to digest what was, what I had hoped would be and what I see before me.
When I was browsing the gift store in my alone hour for a bookmark for my new read I came across one with the most fitting sentiment for the occasion and all that I was feeling. I snatched it up. It was Advice from a Tree.
That, I realized, would be the beauty of this next decade. I have learned to stand tall, I have roots, I am content, Bridger forces me to live on a limb, I'm still working on my water consumption, but I have a VIEW. I have the most beautiful view. The 30's were about climbing, acquiring, getting somewhere, establishing. My 30's came with an experience that showed me what is important. The experiences of my 30's have taught me so much and given me understanding that allows me to stop climbing the tree, but to sit back and enjoy the spectacular view that is a result of that life experience. This is going to be the best decade yet.
My hour ended.
We played in Yellowstone Lake, we walked the Paint Pots, we saw buffalo, we toured the geysers.
We came. We saw. We Yellowstone'd.
