37

I started this blog seven years ago, in part to deal with the trauma of turning 30. Yesterday I turned 37 and I realized that a lot has changed since then. My mother's death is what finally made me feel like an adult. My hair is grayer, my face is starting to show wrinkles, I think my paunchy mama-belly is permanent, and I'm okay with all of it. I have no idea how big my fortieth birthday meltdown will be, but for now thirty seven feels right. Also, Tom bought me a black pearl necklace to go with my ring and two pieces of fenton hobnail glass "from the kids".

And I think it really says something about the effectiveness of my meds that I had a really great birthday yesterday, even though five hours of it was spent driving home from Omaha in a van with broken air conditioning.