39

I will be 39 on Wednesday....and I can't believe it. How does time pass so quickly? Yesterday I was at a birthday party for one of my daughters friends, and a mother there was sure she knew me from somewhere. I went through all the usual possibilities, with no results. Finally She asked my name, and when I told her my maiden name, she started to laugh. We had lived together, for a year, in 1989. I remember watching the Berlin wall fall with her and many other less historic events. We use to have a really great time together.
Last night laying in bed thinking about all the things that she and I had done, I realized. You have to be really old (at least really middle aged) to have lived with someone for a year and not be able to recognize them on sight. We hadn't even changed that much. It had just been so long since we'd seen one another. Soon I'll be able to say things like "I've forgotten more people than you've met". Sad. Of course, I like to think I've learned a few things along the way, not as much as I might have, but a few.
If I live as long as my grandmothers I'm about ten years shy of my half way mark. But, if I live as long as my father, I have 17 years. I need to start paying more attention. Most days just roll by in a blur of work and laundry. In twenty years will the people around me now be unrecognizable? I hope not, I know some really great people now.
Perhaps I've taken too much for granted in my 20's and 30's. I will make an effort to appreciate the people in my life and not let them drift away, due to random circumstances. I want my 40's to be about appreciation of all the things I have in my life, family, friends, work, and all the things in between that hold it all together.
Check back in 20 years and we'll see how I did....