Farewell to my 30s!

Friday was my 40th birthday, well-celebrated by a lovely trip to the Peachy Pig Farm, a bucolic u-pick berry farm about 30 minutes from our house. We picked lots of marionberries and raspberries, a few blueberries, and got 20-pounds of tree-ripened apricots (not what you get in the store or the farmers market!). We also got 10 pounds of hazelnuts for only $1.50/pound. The farmer had a wonderful noisy contraption for cracking them, so crack them he did. I figure it's about 30% waste, so that makes it less than $2.50/pound. It's usually about $8/pound in the store! We brought a picnic lunch and had a really nice time there. Amirah is now a great picker. Eli runs all over tasting berries and telling us where the best ones are, and Raizel makes it look like she is industriously picking, bucket over her arm, but not a single berry hit the bottom of her bucket. :) Avi was in the backpack and kept pounding my back for another berry and making - ahem - attention-getting noises until he got another one. The back of my shirt was a giant, purple-stained mess at the end of our picking! Then we came home and had a great dinner.

It feels great to be 40. My 30s were pretty wonderful. At least a hundred times better than my 20s. So if things continue at that exponential rate, than my 40s ought to be 10,000 times better than my 20s. WOW!

Highlights from my 30s:

Moving to the Portland area

Traveling to Spain and Morocco

Beginning my studies of Judaism with an interest in conversion (though I had no idea where that came from!) and meeting my future husband in that class

Meeting two of my nephews within hours of their births

Teaching music at my studio and at the German-American School (great staff, great students, wonderful support for music!)

Directing five student-composed three-act operas that involved all the first through fifth grade students. I don't think I'll ever top that!

Traveling to Guatemala

Converting to Judaism (three short words, hugely long process)

Traveling to Israel

Meeting my future husband with my eyes open this time - DUH (it only took us four years to stop being casual acquaintances)

Getting married

Hashem (G-d) bringing us four wonderful children in 5 years

Thinking about the next ten years

I have so much fun thinking about what is ahead for us. I couldn't be on this journey with anyone else. I HAD to marry D and I HAD to have these four children. What a pleasure to be wife and mama. I can't wait to see where it goes next!