On My Fortieth Birthday

Image by freakgirl via Flickr

In a few short hours, I will be forty years old. Honestly, it's hard for me to believe -- I still feel sixteen.

Okay, maybe not. Don't get me wrong -- sixteen wasn't a bad age for me, all things considered. I started college when I was sixteen, and many of the women who will read this met me that year. Hi, Cottey girls! (Just in case any of my male friends think I'm discriminating, Cottey College is a women's school -- a finishing school, in point of fact, though they gave up trying to "finish" their students sometime around 1920 or so.)

Maybe I should say I still feel like I'm twenty-five. But twenty-five wasn't that great. I was working for a title company back then, having dropped out of college after five years of relatively directionless education. I was single and starting to wonder if I was going to stay that way forever. It wasn't a bad life, but it certainly wasn't perfect.

I don't feel much different from the day I turned thirty, but I'm definitely happier. On November 17, 2001, I was separated from my first husband, having decided that single wasn't such a bad thing after all. I had an interesting job, good friends, and a sense that things were looking up. Of course, that could have been the relief of shedding a couple hundred pounds of irritating weight. (If you happen to be reading this, ex-husband, don't take offense.) However, I was still like a boat without a rudder -- just bobbing in the current.

The last decade has brought me many worthwhile things: the love of my life, two trips to Italy, several good friends, a college degree, and a career. In case you didn't know, I'm not just a blogger -- I'm a writer with seven novels under my belt. And I have a publisher, which is a fair accomplishment these days.

So I guess if I had to choose an age, I'd say...I feel forty and forty feels damn good. If you want to wish me a happy birthday, the best way to do that would be to buy one of my books. By the way, my seventh novel, Charmed Life, will be available tomorrow. It's the second in my Brass Monkey series. As part of my birthday celebration, I'd like to give you the first book in that series, Wild Life, for free. The Smashwords coupon code, good for November 17, 2011, only, is BJ56J.

Thanks for being a part of my life.