Celebrating my 40th birthday in style: One Thing or a Mother

I’m coming to you from a new decade this week.
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No, I haven’t time-travelled, but I have failed to slow the sands of time and prevent my ‘big birthday’ from happening.

And so it was with a reluctant acceptance – and despite my very best wishful thinking – that I turned, eek, 40 last week. I still can’t quite believe it.

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I’m slowly trying to get used to the idea that nobody is going to accept my self-classification of being a young person any more.

Surely there was a mix-up with the balloons, and the first one should have been a 3?!Surely there was a mix-up with the balloons, and the first one should have been a 3?!
Surely there was a mix-up with the balloons, and the first one should have been a 3?!

And I really must remember that 40 isn’t actually how old my parents are, even if my brain will forever think they are!

I have, however, taken comfort in the old adage that this is when my life will begin (does that essentially make me a newborn?!) and the fact I didn’t suddenly wake up with a head of grey hair and a Zimmer frame by the bedside on my big day.

So how did I mark entering my fifth decade? (And, by the way, yuck – that’s a phrase I should never use again.) Well, I drank some gin, of course!

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There was a birthday lunch with gin cocktails at The Ivy in Brighton, a party with friends at a bar in Worthing on Saturday night, and lunch in town and a ride on the Worthing Observation Wheel with my family on Sunday.

I might not be able to change my age, but I sure can drag out the celebrations. And they haven’t even ended yet – I’ve got a fancy meal out with my husband planned for this Saturday. Just call me Party Animal!

So, have I learned anything in my first week in Club Forty? Well, it’s possibly too early to tell.

I do know that when former Herald & Gazette reporter James Butler makes you drink tequila on top of gin and cocktails you might not feel top-notch the next day, and feeling in said delicate state will make a ride on the Worthing wheel extra ‘exciting’.

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And, without sounding too schmaltzy, it’s at milestone points in my life like this that I remember how lucky I am to have such an amazing family and friends around me.

I was well and truly spoiled this week, both with amazing gifts and with the time everybody spent making my birthday so special.

So, if this is 40, maybe it won’t be so bad after all. Happy birthday to me!

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