How to Celebrate My 40th?

40!?!

It's on the horizon!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I got to be with my cousin while she celebrated her 30th birthday. It got me thinking about how I used to celebrate birthdays with a lot more creativity and zest. For my 30th birthday, for example, I invited my good friends to trek to a camp in the mountains of Colorado. We went snow-shoeing, cooked meals together, watched a movie, played board games and just had a lot of cozy fun together.

It made me sad to think that I was about to let my 40th birthday pass without much ado. It's not that I need the attention or need to put myself at the center of some narcissistic celebration. Instead, it's about seizing the opportunity to bring people together (with a socially-sanctioned excuse).

I've talked a lot about my "former self" and how she has "slipped away" in many ways. It's been a combination of things, mainly deciding to raise two children who are two years and four months apart, as well as giving birth to a giant career all at the same time. They say that entrepreneurs can only choose three of these things: family, career, fitness, sleep, or friends. And that list doesn't even include things like personal expression (through creative outlets) or service to others or emotional growth. Oh my!

But I am slowly reclaiming a more well-rounded version of myself, mainly by making myself stop work by 8pm every night and by radically prioritizing what our organization commits to taking on.

It's a process that started this year, and I'm beginning to feel the effects.

So, back to the birthday story.

On the 20-hour road trip back to Austin, I started brainstorming birthday ideas. My ideas mainly involved my going somewhere along, like to Camp Good Life Project or to a crafting camp.

Then Matt had the idea that we rent inexpensive cabins in a forest and invite our friends with families to get together for a weekend. Yes! That's exactly right. It's like recreating my 30th birthday but with all of our children in tow. I'm calling it Family Fun Fest (to Celebrate my Fortieth). Can you tell that I love alliteration?

It's going to have things like campfires and sing-a-longs (did I tell you I'm going to start learning the ukulele?), board games, a movie night, communal meals, hiking, kitchy camp crafts, outdoor games like flag football and frisbee, creek exploration, and a Family Field Day (I love some cheesy competition). Yes! It sounds so fun (to me). I'm going to put together the invitation and see if I can get some friends to commit to coming!

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