I don’t really know what I was expecting about the other side of my thirties, to be completely fair, I don’t think I ever contemplated it much. It was just this vague threat looming in the background.
And then it happened. Last year I turned 35 and didn’t do anything for my birthday. The official line and what I was actually thinking was “I cannot be bothered to organise it all”. I can’t remember if I felt particularly depressed that Winter so I guess I wasn’t. I just wasn’t so fussed turning 35. I am still not sure why 36 felt different, I guess because I am now properly on the wrong side of 35 as I like to explain to my friends. What does it mean really?
– It means my days of dressing like a child are over for good. Nobody wants to look like an old little girl. Whatever Happened To Baby Jane isn’t a good look.
– It means I am done joking about “thinking like an early grandma” because well… I am supposed to be properly grown-up now. And so really thinking like an early grandma just means living my life like a real adult. Sometimes.
– It means I know what I want and more specifically what I don’t want. And I am not afraid to voice my opinion in any and all circumstances. Some people don’t like it. To them I say “Deal With It“.
– It means my power word isn’t “YES“, it is “NO“. Learning to say “NO” is the best thing that ever happened to me. It doesn’t mean I don’t say yes to a lot of things, but it means I am unafraid to say a resounding-yet-polite-but-not-always “NO” when I don’t think something is a good idea.
– It means the people in my life, old or new are the ones I chose to share all the magic with. They are here to stay and we’ve all been through Hell and back together at least thrice. But we giggled along the way.
-… It also means I can still waste hours watching videos of cats on YouTube, laugh at scatological jokes and generally make a fool of myself on a daily basis.
So really it is pretty f*cking amazing and I highly recommend you try it.
All this to say, this year I did have a party, because the wonderful people at Cointreau offered to organise everything for me and keep Cointreau Fizz cocktails flowing the whole evening, so this week started with plenty of opportunities for me to make a fool of myself. For those I am very grateful.
Thank you to all my friends for helping me age ungracefully.