Happy Birthday Me

Somehow, though I am still trying to figure out just how, I managed to wake up and realize that today I turn 35. I am now closer to 40 than I have ever been, and this seems completely unreal. I vividly remember my Mom throwing a 40th birthday party for my Dad, you know, the kind where everything is black; the one where I was running around in summer kiddo pajamas with chicken pox. Whoa! What happened to the past many years?! I am not scared of 40; I think I am just more surprised to realize I am now close to an age that has always seemed "old" to me. Ha ha ha…I am quickly realizing that at 40, you are just getting started! Right?! At any rate, I am so thankful on this birthday to be able to spend time with G and D, and feel Baby P jabbing away at my stomach; those three people are the best presents I could ask for. I had fun reflecting back on my "milestone" birthdays over the past years: my 20th birthday was celebrated with my family in Fort Collins, CO, and was the last birthday I was able to physically celebrate with my Mom; my 25th birthday was celebrated in Galveston, TX with my friend (and roommate at the time) L, and we had a fabulous time ringing in "closer to 30 than 20"; my 30th birthday was spent in Cleveland, OH, where my Dad and A flew in and surprised me and came to watch (along with G) and support me as I ran my second half-marathon; and my 35th birthday brought an unexpected surprise...at a fun holiday party last evening, I managed to take out 20 people to win a TX Hold 'Em game (in the wee hours of today)! G and D treated me to a morning of sleeping in (can you say heaven) and donuts (my one pregnancy craving)...so it has just been a wonderful time!