Tribute to my 40’s

Fuessli, visipix.com

The 40’s were a radical decade for me. When I look back, I feel exhausted. And relieved. (Thank GOD those changes happened–and are behind me!)

This was a decade that took me from having no idea who I was and what I wanted–to a depth of knowing I couldn’t have imagined.

From little, if any personal pulse, to an almost constant contraction of creative expansion.

It’s a decade that started off with a bust, but then banged out a new life from the inside out…

Here are the highlights:

2003: My big 40th birthday bash was snowed out. So instead of dancing the night away, I spent the evening with 2 babies, 4 children and a handful of brave souls who ventured onto the roads and helped consume an inordinate amount of cake.

2004: Watched all 6 seasons of Sex & the City while my husband finished building our very first home.

2005: Ended a decade of nursing. Downsized to a queen bed. Welcomed my husband’s vasectomy. Joined Curves.

2006: Hit bottom. Took a 3 month life sabbatical.

2007: Became a YogaDance Instructor.

2008: Explored avenues of self-employment. Began seeing repetitive numerical sequences of 1’s.

2009: Wrote memior #1. Became a blogger, a Facebooker, and a Twitterer

2010:  Wrote memoir, #2. Resumed outside employment. Began struggling with depression (or awakened to the fact that I’d always struggled with depression.)

2011: Began traveling for work–with trips to Chile & Japan; went to NYC as an NGO delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

2012: Earned my yoga teaching certification. Surpassed the longest I’d ever lived in one home with 8 years in our house.

2013: Reignited self-employment. Began Memoir #3. Celebrated 20 years living in Vermont. Sent my first-born off to college.  Started listening to my vagina.

I’m not sure what to expect for the next decade. Maybe each chapter of life is this BIG. I’m okay with big, but this time around, I also want gentle. Special, but soothing. Expansive, but grounding. Thrilling, but simple. Amazing, but easy. You know, that kind of thing…

Tell me it can happen…

(or turn back to: The 30’s Retrospective and: Turning 20 and The Hardest Decade:10-19)