Perfect in every sense of the word

Although my 40th year has been nothing short of fantastic
my 40th Birthday was STINK-A-LOOSKY!
As mothers we know it's never really about us
but once every decade, I want just one day
to be about me.
(and when I say one day I mean a couple of hours.)

A trip to Hawaii with extended family a week prior to my birthday.  Absolutely fabulous but nothing to do with my birthday.  The monthly extended family party with the other side where I celebrate with a brother and a niece.  A spoken birthday wish to have a girls day out when the sister is in town turns into an at home girls visit in the parent's living room . . . with dad.  No birthday mentioned.

And then there were my birthday celebrating buddies.  One was recovering from major surgery, one had just started her own business and one was busy being the Relief Society President.  There was a R.S. marathon Temple Day planned on my actual Birthday of which I attended twice so I wouldn't be alone.  When my sweetheart got home from work we took the family to the kid's favorite soup and sandwich cafe before returning to put a birthday candle in the uneaten cake I'd made for Valentine's Day.

It was weak, even by a mother's standards.

until . . .

one perfect Friday morning in late September my birthday buddies showed up to kidnap me.  A wonderful surprise planned for me and another birthday buddy that had just turned 40.  The sun was shining brightly in the turquoise sky. The mountains were aflame in vibrant oranges, reds and yellows.  There was a slight chill in the air, the kind that makes you tie a sweater around your waist . . . just in case.  The four of us piled into the SUV, beach cruisers strapped safely on the back, picnic lunches tucked in beside us.  I was bursting with excitement.

We followed the highway high into the mountains until we found ourselves in the middle of the profusion of fall colors.  We parked the car in quaint, little Midway and unloaded our bikes.  Nowhere to go.  Nowhere to be.  Cheese tasting at a cheese factory.  Lunch on a church lawn.  Browsing thru an old bookstore, the owner and her friend visiting over a cup of coffee in the front.  A stop by every bakery we passed.  Multiple antique stores, a cat curled up contently on a stack of heirloom quilts.  Middle aged ladies taking our bikes for a spin while we we're shopping, thinking they belonged to the store itself.  A stop for self portraits.  Tree sap on the pants. While sampling Ruby Snap cookies, someone asks why it smells like Christmas.  Not Christmas.  Just sappy bum.  I love these girls.  We ride and ride and ride.  Late night JCrew outlet in Park City.  Mexican food at 10:30.  Home at midnight.  Bliss.  Absolute, complete utter bliss.  Better than any celebration in February could have ever been.

 

Some things are worth waiting for.