I'm gonna be 40....someday!

Sometimes I only get the chance to blog once a week. And since I can't always get up the motivation to think of a topic, it's nice to have other friends to blog with so we can take turns. I enjoy being challenged to write about stuff that might not normally come to mind and also reading everyone else's thoughts on the same topic. Blog Project 3.0 has been going on for over a year, even though one of the group members changed after a few months. I love blogging with this group and I hope we can continue to inspire each other.

This week, Moma Rock chose the topic: Midlife Crisis

First, read what everyone else had to share on this topic. I will be only posting links to posts on this same topic from my group. So check back if you were hoping to read their blogs and don't see a link yet.

Darwin Shrugged
Froggie
Moma Rock

When I first received this topic, I laughed because it was like Moma Rock had read my mind. Before she gave the topic, I had posted the following on the comments section of my friend's post.

This is because I was a Book Fairy for Purim and wore a blonde wig. Some people, including my dad, told me that I looked good as a blonde.

When I was growing up and through most of high school, I had blonde hair. It grew out over time and I got tired of having it colored back to blonde, so I just went brunette toward the middle of junior year and never looked back. However, now that I'm closer to 40 and seeing gray every day (as much as I'd like to convince myself that they're strands of glitter), I think I'd like to dye my hair blonde. It would be more realistic looking than the costume wig, obviously. If that's as midlife crisis as I get, then my husband should be very thankful. And at least everyone would know where my kids get their blonde hair from!

Me when I was around my daughter's age

There are some other risks I'm thinking of taking as I go into this next decade of my life. (Only a year and four months to go. Yes, I'm counting down.)

For starters, I think I'm finally ready to go back and visit the town in NJ where my family and I lived for two years. I no longer dread the idea of going there. I'm in a different place in my life than I was back then, but even a few years ago, just looking at signs pointing to New York made me anxious. I realized just recently that I can go back there for a Shabbos and not feel intimidated anymore. I know who I am and I know who my real friends are in that area. The people who made me feel less than worthy should not have to keep me from spending time with people I do care about. There are some friends we haven't seen in almost two years and we keep promising to get together every year. I think it's their turn to host us. ;)

While I'm on a roll, I'm considering attending my 30-year high school reunion (gasp!). I know it's a ways down the road, but provided it's not conflicting with Shabbat, I think I could finally give it a whirl.

And call me crazy, but I think it would be cool to re-learn Spanish. I used to be so good at it and then lost almost everything I knew when I stopped taking classes. I think it's a useful skill to have. (Why not Hebrew, you ask? Maybe because it involves an extra step of reading and sounding out different looking letters before even translating them.)

Finally, I need to just get in the driver seat of the van and learn how to maneuver it already. We've had it four years and I'm still terrified to drive it. The other part of me would like to get something similar to an SUV, but a bit lower to the ground. I'm not sure how to describe it. I just know I need more space for my kids as they are getting bigger and crowding each other in the back seat. My current car is over 10 years old and I'm losing patience with it.

In any case, I hope to embrace my 40s in new and interesting ways, whether I stick to the items on this list or not.