This is 42

Today I celebrate my 42nd trip around the sun! I'm writing this ahead of time as I'll be busy hosting my dear friend Kyria this weekend so won't have time to blog. But I anticipate that the days leading up to my birthday have been very wonderful since she's been here to make it extra festive and fun! She didn't intentionally plan to come for my birthday weekend, but it worked out that way! Besides the 10k snowshoe "race" we signed up to do Sunday (I'm using the word race loosely - I can't imagine we'll be fast with snowshoes attached to our feet!), I imagine we've gone for runs around the lake and have had time to really catch up on life since we last saw each other over 3 years ago! 

When I look back on the last year of my life, I can say it was a really good year. It was not without it's challenges, of course. But overall, it was a "normalish" year of life following the double whammy of having a baby/adjusting to a newborn while dealing with the pandemic. We still took a lot of covid tests over the past year but we were able to mostly do the things we wanted to do and see the people we wanted to see. 

We went on our first trip as a family of 4 last February and visited my younger sister and her family in Arizona while my parents were visiting her. 

Hiking with Phil in the Saguaro National Park 

We took several trips to my parents lake home and got to spend lots of time with my little sister and her daughter since she was home for 6 weeks while her husband was traveling a ton. I especially enjoyed going to my nephew's grad party with her as we had lots of time in the car to catch up! Besides seeing my sister, I saw all of my siblings, nieces and nephews over the course of the year. I'm just extra glad that I saw a lot of Abby as we are 2 peas in a pod and have similar-aged kids (Will is 2.5 months older than Maddy) so are in the trenches of parenting together!

I started to travel again for work in April of 2022, and logged trips to Kentucky, DC, Charlotte, NYC, and went to Chicago twice. 

Running along the Mall in DC before giving a presentation later that morning!

I recognized that training for and running a 10 mile race in 2021 was too much in this stage of life so I downshifted and focused on the 10k distance. I logged lots of miles with my awesome neighbor/running partner/best buddy and ran a strong 10k race with her in early October. 

 Our shirts matched the sky that morning! We saw lots of sunrises that stopped us in our tracks!

We survived an epically bad family photo session that is sort of funny to us now... And were amazed by the shots our photographer captured. They are worth the pain of that photo session!

Phil and I grew as a couple and learned how to better navigate being a family of 4. I came up with a Saturday routine that has served us well. We figured out how to give each other breaks by taking turns getting up with the boys on the weekend and giving the early morning parent a break during naptime. 

And we finally went on a kids-free vacation after talking about wanting to for quite awhile. The getaway was a win-win for everyone: Phil and I enjoyed reconnecting while soaking up some vitamin D, and my parents and the boys had a wonderful time together! 

 

I'll celebrate the start of a new trip around the sun in a mellow way, which is what I prefer. Kyria and I will run this morning and I'll enjoy a free birthday drink from Starbucks. I took a page from Suzanne's book (who also has a February birthday) and will get a massage after I drop Kyria at the airport. We'll get Indian take-out tonight (no, the boys won't eat this which is fine - more for me!).

I know there are people who don't like their birthday - but I do. I'm not over-the-top with my celebrations (not that there's anything wrong with that - it's just not how I celebrate things generally), but I enjoy my birthday - because I am happy to be alive and to have such a rich, beautiful life. I've watched people my age and younger battle cancer or other awful diagnoses, and I know of people who have passed away by this age. A long life is not guaranteed so I try to remember that each day on earth is a gift. That doesn't mean I don't have hard days and wallow a bit at times. But overall, my sentiment is "how lucky I am to be alive." 

My birthday wish is that you'll consider leaving me a comment and tell me how you like to celebrate your birthday! For those who don't typically comment, tell me a little bit about yourself!