On Turning 40

Yesterday, someone who hasn't seen me in years said, "You still look the same." We went to university together 20 years ago and haven't had the opportunity to spend significant amounts of time with each other during that time. It was a compliment and I LOVED the 30 minutes we got to spend together. I thought about that today and said to myself, "No, I don't. I have wrinkles." Wrinkles are inevitable but they are proof that I have LIVED, and not sat on display somewhere.

I am decidedly low maintenance and choose to embrace wrinkles and grey hair rather than resist them. Resistance is futile, as they say, and I would much rather spend my energy on other pursuits...although I have taken up flossing. (I'd like to have my own teeth when I'm 92... that, and my dental hygienist has put a holy fear into me!)

In these last 20-some years I have been married for 19 years and Ray and I can say we still love waking up next to one another. My husband thinks I look great, even though my body tells that I have given birth to and nourished two children, who are now strapping young lads. I'm not who I was 20 years ago, but I love who I've become. Having said that, I am excited that God is not finished with me yet.

I love being middle aged and knowing what I want and don't want. I want to serve as a volunteer at my school and I want to scrapbook and make cards for people. I don't want to waste my time on things that make me busy but not useful. I love being the mom of teenagers. I love being the wife of a nature loving man. I love my job taking care of the church. I love my family and they love me, and I love my church family...and they love me too... wrinkles and all.