Friday, January 22, 2010

The Long Anticipated, Much Dreaded Four Oh


When I was 13, I used to tease my friend Katrine that I was going to be 16 before her. As fate would have it, I was 7 days older and I was going to get to experience all life had to offer before her. 16. (Nah Nah, I get to drive first!) Then 18. (Neener Neener I get to vote first!) Then 21. (HA! I can legally go to a bar first!) To which she would always reply, “Yeah, but you will be 40 before me.”

Well, 27 years later (holy heck!!!), I have finally reached that milestone. To tell you the truth, I feel about 20. I don’t know how these kids of mine have reached advanced toddlerdom while I haven’t aged a day! It’s a great mystery. Or how I could possibly be celebrating my 10th anniversary next month, when it was just yesterday we got married. Or how 27 years have passed since Katrine and I would tease each other about turning FORTY!!

So, Monday was the big day! My company decided to hold its annual sales conference in Miami this year, so I would need to travel on my 40th birthday.

My husband and children got up early and made me birthday pancakes. Among the gifts was a new heat blanket, because they know that when I return from the delightful, warm, sunny, beachy clime of Miami, I will be cold. And we all learned that sticking an itty bitty wax candle into a hot pancake is a bad idea.

Mother Nature blessed me with about 6 inches of wet, slippery, totally yucky snow for the drive to the airport. Luckily, my lover owns a 4-wheel drive vehicle and it was MLK Jr. Day, so traffic was light.

I arrived at the airport and hooked up with my co-workers who are world travelers. They would take care of me, I knew. I just had to stick to them like glue. The VP of Engineering called the VP of Marketing who got us into the American Airlines executive lounge. This is a perk apparently if you fly more than you drive. I accompanied them behind those delightful glass doors where they have nice, cushy chairs and desks and free coffee and fruit and I could go on…

Then (my new best friend) the VP of Engineering says that he can try to get my coach, back of the plane seat upgraded, since he is “Executive Platinum”. AND HE DOES. (And we didn't even have to use the standby "it's my birthday" trick.)

So, I got to fly to Miami on my 40th birthday in First Class, drinking mimosas and having warm mixed nuts. I kid you not. After a warmed towel (was it for our hands or face? Not really sure.) they presented me with a lovely little ceramic bowl of warm nuts.

Well, heck, 40 was starting off alright!!

AND … my BBFF Chief and MaeRae gave me shout-outs. I just love the shout-outs! And Chief gave me a sweet, yummy, delicious treat to boot! So instead of teasing me and telling me how I am going to fall apart at 40 (like my husband), just go over there and tell them how awesome you think they are for publicly giving me some love! And you might even get to see some hunky almost nakedness!!

*Cake created by Creations by Skip. Skip makes some mighty fine cakes. Go check him out. He is not going to end up on Cake Wrecks unless it's a Sunday!!

2 comments:

Kristina P. said...

Happy belated birthday, Laurie!

mCat said...

Happy Birthday, and it all sounds just dee-light-ful