Today is the beginning of my fortieth year. I'm starting a new decade and it was ushered in with a surprise party this weekend that my husband organized. I told my friends that the joyful gathering and messages from far and wide will bolster me through this new decade. That's a big (possibly cliched) statement, but I think - hope! - it is true.
Writing, teaching online, parenting, and otherwise living in this technologically-heavy world often leaves me lonely and feeling as blue as my screens' light. On this blog, I write about the juggling act we do parent writers do because it isn't anything that can be ignored or forgotten. Working full-time is a big job, parenting is a big job and writing creatively - essentially another full-time, unpaid job - is a big job. Three big jobs, in addition to other relationships and responsibilities, is no small juggling act.
Leading up to this birthday, I had been feeling panic about all I want to do and all that I haven't yet done. I even received a birthday message from someone today that said, "Happy birthday! Hey, forty isn't so bad. You'll get through it."
An old friend posted on Facebook recently about her feeling of success for making it to forty. I need to turn the impending doom of the "zero" birthday around and enjoy this time. After all, it really is a success if we are still all here together.
With that in mind, I wish us all happiness, a happy birthday if you share the day, and a hearty congratulations for making it this far. Here's to a full next decade of being surrounded by love, writing and reading.
I also leave you with this kind-hearted (for parents and former-children alike) New York Times article, "What American Parents Can learn from Chinese Philosophy." The piece ends with, "Caring for one another is hard work. It requires endless awareness, adaptation and responsiveness. But it is one of the most important and rewarding things we do. This is not just how our children will become better people and live better lives. It is how they can create a better world." I would add that it makes our writing truer and more important, too.
Writing, teaching online, parenting, and otherwise living in this technologically-heavy world often leaves me lonely and feeling as blue as my screens' light. On this blog, I write about the juggling act we do parent writers do because it isn't anything that can be ignored or forgotten. Working full-time is a big job, parenting is a big job and writing creatively - essentially another full-time, unpaid job - is a big job. Three big jobs, in addition to other relationships and responsibilities, is no small juggling act.
Leading up to this birthday, I had been feeling panic about all I want to do and all that I haven't yet done. I even received a birthday message from someone today that said, "Happy birthday! Hey, forty isn't so bad. You'll get through it."
An old friend posted on Facebook recently about her feeling of success for making it to forty. I need to turn the impending doom of the "zero" birthday around and enjoy this time. After all, it really is a success if we are still all here together.
With that in mind, I wish us all happiness, a happy birthday if you share the day, and a hearty congratulations for making it this far. Here's to a full next decade of being surrounded by love, writing and reading.
I also leave you with this kind-hearted (for parents and former-children alike) New York Times article, "What American Parents Can learn from Chinese Philosophy." The piece ends with, "Caring for one another is hard work. It requires endless awareness, adaptation and responsiveness. But it is one of the most important and rewarding things we do. This is not just how our children will become better people and live better lives. It is how they can create a better world." I would add that it makes our writing truer and more important, too.
