“I can’t wait till our 40’s,” my friend, Jessica, said as she sat on my living room floor.
“What? Why? We just turned 30! Why do you want to get old??” I exclaimed something to this effect. I can’t remember the exact words because this was nearly a decade ago.
“Think about it. Our 30’s are about working our butts off. We have toddlers, we’re having more children, we’re building businesses. We’re working hard! Our 40’s will be about enjoying the benefits.”
She’s a smart lady, and completely right about our 30’s. Since then, Jess and I have each gone on to have 2 more kids for a total of 6 between us. I’ve remembered her words as I’ve been elbow deep in poopy diapers and spilled Cheerios, and wiped snot and caught puke all in the same day while submitting an article.
I’ve thought about my 40’s as a magical land of ‘three-kids-in-the-same-school’ since my third was born two years ago. Of course, nobody can predict the future but it’s quite possible that the next decade holds a less-crazy schedule for my entrepreneur husband, more time and space for me to expand my work (and when you love what you do, then being able to work is actually a luxury!), international travel for the 5 of us, fewer booster seats and other little kid accessories, a daughter old enough to babysit, and much more.
And now that my friends are starting to turn 40, I’m getting pretty excited for the next leg of this ride.
On Saturday night, we celebrated Salma‘s birthday in style! Her beautiful home was converted into a swanky resto/bar with catered dinner, music (the best playlist ever – hello ’90’s hip hop!), candles, a photobooth courtesy of Third Eye Weddings, and even a slideshow put together by her husband.
It was so fun to dress up and relax on a Saturday night with ladies I am lucky to have become friends with through blogging. Seriously, these ladies are the best!
{Photo Cred: Third Eye Weddings} {Left to Right: Moi, Salma, Raj, Crystal and Jamie}
Since the time Jessica and I sat cross-legged on my living room floor a lot has changed. For example, sitting on the floor doesn’t happen as often (haha!), and even planning to get together for a dinner sans family is quite a feat!
But the 30’s have brought many wonderful things: more babies (and a complete family!), so many experiences in the writing/publishing world, and incredible connections with other women who are doin’ the grind with me.
At Salma’s party, I couldn’t help but think how amazing it was that we connected online and then moved our friendship to where we meet up socially and not just to talk shop. Salma’s been the type of friend I can vent to when something’s misbehavin’ in my life (WordPress plugins, children, my wardrobe) and she’s the kind of friend I can be like, “Guess what?! They liked my pitch!! Now what do I do??” She’s one of a handful of women I have in my pocket who I can sound like one of those crazy creative-types with: “My work is my heart, it’s like I’ve bled my soul onto these pages. And…I don’t know. Maybe my work is just shit. I mean, who’s gonna pay me for this shit?!”
My life would be less colourful without the women friends I’ve been collecting from all sorts of places – my family, high school, grad school, my neighbourhood, and through this huge space called the Internet. Now that we’re headed for this next decade, I’m excited to see what Life has in store for all of us. I hope that in 10 years when I’m writing about entering my 50’s, all my friends are doing well and we’re planning reckless things.
And I hope you’re doing wonderful no matter what decade you are rockin’ right now. One thing I’ve learned is that we aren’t guaranteed anything, so yeah…work, work, work, work, work as you must but always aim to live authentically, creatively and with kindness.
