Forty is the new thirty, right?

Okay, while I realize that I am not 40, turning 35 today is basically the downhill slide to 40. WHICH, I need to say, is NOT OLD. Period. I remember when it WAS, but it isn't anymore! In fact, I think that 40 is the new 20, if you look at some of our 'idols' who are in their 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and older. So, with that said, when my mother-in-law asked me if I felt middle-aged, and I said, "Yes," it is only because I'm at the age when my mom started saying she was middle-aged. But, I certainly hope I am not!

Speaking of my mom...sad day for me. Birthdays since she died have been. I don't care how old you are, you just never get over losing your mother. Poor Nanci took me to dinner (a million thanks--I LOVE CD Cafe!) and got a big bawl-fest from me because I was having a pity party about not having my mom around to give me the birthday call. There's just something cozy and secure about the unconditional love of your mother that, without your mother, you feel terribly and horribly alone. I don't know of any other way to put it. It's a hole in your heart that time may help soften the edges of, but just never closes.

John sent 24 balloons, and let me tell you how a big bouquet of balloons riles up a class full of second graders!!!! I also got a lovely, lovely arrangement from "my kids," as well as a gift card for Barnes and Noble (LOVE TO READ!) and a gift card and a special lunch treat from my 2nd grade teammates. I have been so blessed in the last several years of teaching with the immediate teachers I have gotten to work with. My team in North Carolina is still family to me, and I'd lose my mind without my team here in Maryland. The Three Musketeers, or so we have been called by several colleagues. I'll take it. Life is too short to work with people you can't count on, and as I said, I have been blessed with so many people on which I can count.

I also have heard from my dear Pensacola girls, and again, family is the only word to describe them. My dad and sister called, as did all my North Carolina family, and so as I go to bed tonight still missing out on that birthday call from my mom, I can so easily and readily see how alone I am NOT. I thank God for all the beautiful, wonderful and compassionate people I have in my life, and for their love they give to me. What a wonderful group of people my little KGB will be able to call family as well.

My cup runneth over.