This. Is. 40. Installment 11

Well, here it is. March 17. I am 40.

No one could handle the idea of me turning 40, so everyone is quarantined. The world is so, so strange right now. I lost my birthday party and the concert I was going to go to, thanks to the corona virus, but I'm trying to appreciate and count my blessings. They are many, especially compared to what some people are going through right now.

As far as turning 40, I think it's fair to say that I've done pretty much everything I've wanted to do by this age. I do wish I had traveled more, I wish that I had a deck...also I thought at this age that I'd have a better drainage system in my backyard, but other than those three things, my life is pretty perfect.

Three healthy, happy kids. One healthy husband who I still love. A house I love. I job that is meh, but pays the bills. I love my bike, especially my bike basket. I love my town. I have curtains I'm quite fond of. My arts and crafts collection is strong. My baseball team won the world series and I went to two of the games. I'm friends with my siblings. I love my parents. I have two cute, established rose bushes in front of my house. I have a stash of two-ply toilet paper that some people would kill for.

But the biggest and most recent checkbox checked is that I finished my book. All the way. I had two rounds of friends read the book, comment, and after that I made more edits. Yesterday I finished my last edits and sent query letters to six agents to start the process of finding an agent to represent me. That was my goal-- by my 40th birthday.

But even if nothing comes of this book, the journey here has been so rewarding. I've become a better writer and this book has given me not only an outlet for my creativity, my love, and my frustrations, but it also gave me a purpose. For ten years. I now need a new purpose. And I have a great idea for a new book.

This.
Is.
40.

Yay for friends who give great gifts!

This is 40, Installment 10

You guys. It's less than two weeks away. The big 4-0. I'll be old in two weeks.

So.

Let's talk about memes.

I feel like I'm fairly meme-confident. I can see one and GET IT. You know, it's subtle and it references something in pop culture and/or the news and I chuckle knowingly and confidently to myself. I make it clear to anyone around me that I understand it. We laugh about it. We're so knowledgeable and worldly. NBD.

The other day my sister sent me a meme that she also attached a caption to. I looked at. Looked at it again.

I had NO idea what it meant. NONE.

But you can't let the sender know, obvs. So I asked my brother what it meant. I asked him several probing questions, trying to extract her meaning from it. It's a meme. It is not supposed to elicit probing questions. I asked him more questions, and then just stopped after several rounds for sheer embarrassment of the texting disaster that was happening on my phone.

I'm still not sure I completely comprehend what it means.

Getting old is hard.

This is 40.

Something I still get: tacos. Yum.