This week I turned 43 years old! It feels weird. Crazy good weird. Weird in the best sort of way things do, because (as so many of my people have described to me in other ways) time passes fleetingly yet not at all with as much damage as we expect when we are younger. And by younger I mean, obviously, either 8 or 36. 43 is nothing like what I thought it would be at either of those tender ages. I am grateful to report that I feel happier, healthier, and more involved in the business of living life than ever before.
This year for my birthday I got some new bees. Honeybees, as I am sure you assumed, and lots of them. A fully developed, robust, mellow colony, complete with brood and a speck of sustenance honey. Maribeth helped me cut them out of a shed made available to us by a friend and his sweet family. I will write that whole story soon for apiary record keeping. Suffice it to say I was romanced and enthralled by the whole experience and am deeply happy about having a third colony at the Lazy W!
A few days ago Handsome took Jocelyn and me to an early birthday lunch of some of the best Tex-Mex food you can find in OKC. Do I need to tell you guys at this point how much I love tortilla chips? And all the things you eat with them? It was so good. More importantly, the three of us had a much needed conversation that I will treasure for years to come.
I made my own 43rd birthday dessert, as part of a random bucket list I wrote for this year only. I had to lovingly stress to my cake-ordering guy that it was my actual birthday dessert wish, truly, to try my hand at a homemade tiramisu. It was a disaster in every way, but we got a great laugh.
My sister Angela sent me the most perfect and hilarious birthday card, accompanied by the most perfect and hilarious written note. It was off color just the right amount, and I laughed all the way from our mailbox back up to the house. She and I only live half an hour apart, and we had already planned to see each other in person this week, so the fact that she snail-mailed me a card made the whole thing funnier. And sweeter. And more perfect.
In addition to new bees, on my actual birthday (Wednesday) I was super happy to collect the first green eggs of the year! And it happened on what was also the first ten-egg day of the year, so go Lazy W hens!! They all taste the same (cue heartfelt lesson on character content, not skin color, although this smacks of cannibalism now), but I can’t help it. The mint green shells are my favorite.
Birthday Week continued with some easy, low key running, some Apartment organizing, and more time with Jocelyn, her friend Garret and the pups. I kinda can’t get enough of that stuff. I laugh so hard with her.
One night Handsome and I drove to the city to watch the Thunder play San Antonio (THUNDER WIN!!) and another day we went to Cars and Coffee (debuting our gigantic pink Cadillac) and then to see a matinée with my parents and little brother Philip, KING KONG SKULL ISLAND. Oh man, you guys, such a great iteration of a classic creature feature. My gosh. Bring on the next Monarch installment!
Somewhere in there my sister Angela drove out to the farm, another much appreciated dose of belly laughter. She and Handsome and I lingered over homemade pizza and had the best conversation for hours. Sometime I will tell you why this is beyond nice, why this represents a long string of beautiful miracles in our family. In the meantime, look how much my dog loves her too:
I made another happy stop at the Savory Spice Shoppe, to pick up my birthday treat plus more, and the owner recognized me as the Instagram lady who makes aprons, ha! That was fun. I feel like I want to start sending personalized aprons and towels to local businesses.
The rest of the weekend is likely to be cold and rainy, so some reading and cuddling might be in order. Then starting Monday (possibly before) running ramps up again in earnest and life will return more or less to normal. I’m feeling very loved and wildly blessed. In every way I have shared and a million more I haven’t, turning 43 has been pretty great. I would only like this coming year of life to move more slowly, just to soak up more things, more deeply, and to pursue some exciting goals harder.
Thank you for all of your birthday wishes all over the place! I appreciate you guys so much. Thanks for reading.
XOXOXOXO
Posts to watch for the coming couple of weeks:
- Collateral Beauty movie discussion
- An amazing week of togetherness with my family
- Joy Luck Club book discussion
- Spring has sprung! Farm update
- Bee yard update
- Running update: New goals, new methods
- Listen to Your Mother: I am on the 2017 cast!
- New Lazy W recipe!
- Cheap gardening project ideas
That sounds like one of the best possible birthdays ever! I love how your hens knew just what to get you.
LOL thank you Marisa!! Yes I was spoiled rotten, as always. And I ate like a queen too.