The Day Mom Turned 40

I was born on February 21st, 1969 at 18 minutes after midnight. My grandma Rachel, for whom I am named, had her birthday on February 20th. So, since my mom was in labor on the 20th and I was named after my grandma but actually arrived several minutes too late to share a birthday with her, my parents always had a hard time remembering when my birthday actually was. With that as a preface, I'll tell you that I had quite a crisis leading up to 40. It went on for at least a month leading up to the day. I don't know exactly why, but it has something to do with being "old" and feeling on the declining side of things without having accomplished enough. I stayed up late on Friday night, the 20th, and I happened to be awake at 18 minutes after midnight, exactly 40 years after I entered the world. I was crying. And whining. It was partly because I was 40, but I had also learned that day that a dear friend of mine had died 14 years previously and had died living a sinful lifestyle. I finally went to bed at about half past one after crying for quite a while with Russ trying to console me.

When I woke up in the morning, my eyes were very swollen and I looked terrible! That only added to my dismay at how being an "old" lady. So, I cried some more. I called my inlaws and told them I wasn't handling my new status very well. I needed a mom and dad! I asked if they would be wiling to meet us in Provo for lunch, and they consented.

We took the whole family. By the time we left the house, it was early afternoon, and I was feeling calmer. Caleb drove because he needed to get some hours in. He'll be getting his license in April.

I sat in the seat behind the passenger seat. I got feeling a little silly and started taking a bunch of pictures of myself.

Then I took pictures of everyone else. I took 185 pictures over the course of the day, but most of them were in the car.
MatthewMolly and Emily
RussJoshua, Katie, Hannah

We decided to go to the BYU art museum first. Russ's mom and dad had arrived and were waiting there for us.

Everybody got out of the car to go in.The kids hadn't seen Grandma and Grandpa for a while, so they were happy to have them there.There was a neat sculpture in the lobby that caught our attention, but the main exibit we came for was downstairs. The "art" was made from everyday things, and the artist's objective was to help us see the wonder in common items. Here's Katie looking at a montage made from the sweepings from the studio floor, plus some adhesive foam and some aluminum lids.Here's Caleb by the balloon piece. That was cool! It was fun to try and stuff everyone in the elevator.
They had to rest their feet after walking around looking at all the art.

Caleb, Hannah, Matthew, Grandpa Goates, and Molly

Emily, Joshua, and Grandma GoatesOur next stop was Brick Oven pizza where we got the Market Room dinner--all you can eat salad, soup, pasta with choice of five different sauces and five different cheeses, and garlic bread. Yum!Here's Emily at the salad bar.Here's me eating my salad. By this time, my woes about being 40 were long gone. Caleb and MatthewJoshua and Grandma GoatesThe staff of Brick Oven came in and sang Happy Birthday to me and gave me a big piece of chocolate mousse pie, which I didn't eat, since I don't eat chocolate. The people at the table who did eat chocolate (which wasn't many) passed it around and ate it.When we went out to get in our cars, the balloon man was just arriving. He works at Brick Oven tying balloons for people to entertain them while they eat. My mother-in-law mentioned it was my birthday and asked him if he would make me something. He was so fast! Better than a lampshade!Then Grandpa took one last picture.Next, my family went to my favorite store! I love D.I.!Emily was looking for prom dresses, and I decided to try one on just for fun. Good to make a person feel young!

Molly found Garfield twice, and Russ found her a Garfield head lamp. Molly loves Garfield!We have this tradition of going to the furniture section of D.I. when we are done and waiting for the family to gather. I took the opportunity to take more pictures.Here's Russ looking worn out.The kids went out to the car before Russ and I. By the time we got there, no one knew where the keys were. Joshua said he put them on the driver's seat where Russ was sitting. Russ was adamant that he wasn't sitting on them. Things were escalating, so I said the best thing to do was to get out and start looking. As soon as I got out, Russ found the keys where I had been sitting on them. I hadn't even noticed. Hmmm....that couldn't be a good sign....Russ thought it was pretty funny, though!It was a good day. Honestly, by about ten o'clock in the morning, I was pretty much feeling like I was settled into 40 and it wasn't all that bad. Now I don't know what all the fuss was about. All the ladies at church said, just wait ten years, then you'll have something to cry about!

Here's a picture of me and my dad when I was a few months old.