My birthday plus one month

Little kid birthdays are full of cake and specter of toys wrapped in colorful paper just out of reach. Little kid birthdays are scored in the happy birthday song and the laughter of friends hopped up on sugar and an excuse to run around screaming.

Adult birthdays less so.

Except…

3 spices a month and recipes to go with them

Except when your friends are utterly amazing and tell you for forty days, in honor of your soon-to-be 40 years, that you are special and loved.

Forty days of 40 started with a microplane. My mom handed it to me while I was in Houston for xmas and I assumed it was a holiday present. It was a little strange because my family doesn’t really do xmas presents for the adults. But I’d been talking about a microplane for a while and my mother, ever thoughtful, had clearly been listening.

And so it began. A trickle to a cascade, the gifts came in from all over. A container of quarters (I always need quarters to wash), knives, a whisk, words of wisdom, words of beauty, warriors tickets, pictures, books, spices, earrings, socks, a food tour, music, amazon gift cards, a plant, edible arrangements. The list goes on. A list of whimsy and planning. 

As amazing as every single gift has been these last 40 days…the thought behind each one. The person who typed or wrapped or mailed or delivered is all the more.

I’m not even on Facebook, so every person had to be excavated from old group emails and the  daisy chain of who knew who. 

Books about food!

And they delivered. Each day a little piece of love dropped into my world. a piece of friendship. A smile. A laugh. 

I’ve never been too caught up in the steepness of my age. I’ve sometimes even been strangely excited by the passing of time. When Ms. Hall elegantly shared that the 30s were amazing, my then 21 year old brain began to anticipate 30 like few people do. and while 40 didn’t have the same incredible endorsement, I assumed it would mark its presence the same way most of my birthdays had…

I was wrong. 

Forty has been a path strewn with every beautiful thing a person could wish for…the overflowing abundance of family, both blood and chosen. 

Appreciation is too paltry a word, I love you to inadequate a phrase.  But for the moment they are all I have. I love and appreciate you all…40 looks amazing from here.