Thirty nine is the new forty. . . . .

"Thirty is the new twenty."

- Jay Z


Grady Seinfeld Moment -Birthday Edition:

One of the nursing assistants in the clinic heard that my birthday was on Labor Day, and asked, "How old are you gon' be, Dr. Manning?"
I poked my chest out and told her proudly, "Thirty-nine and feeling fine!" (Lame, I know.) Guess what she said?
"Oh, hell, you might as well be forty. Don't even bother with 39, just tell people you forty. Any time somebody says 39, everybody just thinks, 'Yeah, yeah- you forty.'"
Nice.

(Sorry, Jay Z, but it looks like thirty is the new. . .well, thirty. . .and even worse, forty is the new . . .well, thirty nine. Wait - or is it thirty-nine is the new forty? Either way, the ten year allowance is hot for a rap tune, but not so in real life. I'm not bitter, either. I'm just sayin'.)
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Feelin' thankful. . . .

Unless you have a heart of stone, working at Grady has a profound effect on you. It brings you up close and personal with extremes of life, death, and everything in between. But what it really does is make you appreciate those little things that you otherwise might be tempted to take for granted. And so, in the spirit of what I have learned from my dear old Grady, I am feeling truly thankful on today.

Why all the warm fuzzies? As you may have already gathered , today happens to be my birthday. I'm not ashamed to say it- it's my thirty-ninth birthday. And you know what? It's been a wonderfully blessed thirty-nine years. (By the way, I'm 3 months older than Harry, who takes great pride in calling me a "cougar" who robbed the cradle. . . . .)


Anyways. . .so how did I ring in the birthday? Well, for starters, I was off work for the long weekend. (Woo hooo!!) Harry and I took the kids to Lake Lanier Islands for the weekend, which was a complete hit. (Super close, super economical, and super fun!)
We dropped the kids off with my mother on our way back into Atlanta, and the rest of the afternoon was spent simply holding my husband's hand and feeling like a girl. *Sigh* I have to say. . .for a working momma with two kids under 5, my husband does an exceptional job of making me feel "like a girl" every single day. (Even if he thinks I'm a "cougar.")

So. . . .here are ten things that make being 39 and me pretty darn great:

10. My two superhero sons are convinced that I am a beautiful fairy princess that must be protected. . .whether I am up 5 or down 5 pounds.

9. Really, really rich friendships- and now witnessing my kids being friends with my friends' kids. . .awesome.

8. My mother and my father are still my heroes. (They call and text me daily! How gnarly is that?)

7. My siblings are totally awesome, and I genuinely adore all of my in-laws- especially my mother-in-law. (Crazy, right??)

6. I absolutely love my job- and would still show up if I won the lottery. (No kidding.)

5. Not to toot my own horn, but all I'm saying is two pregnancies, size 6 and no stretch marks. (That's right, I said it.)

4. Listening to Isaiah praying for me at night. (OMG. . .what could be better?)

3. Zachy smooching me. . . .oh, and being 100% potty trained!! (Nights, too! Yeah baby!!)

2. Every time I look at my husband, I think, "if you weren't my baby-daddy, I'd sure wish you were."

1. I'm comfortable in my skin, and I like being me!

(Offspring of the Class of '96 - Meharry Medical College)

By the way, if I seem infinitely wiser in my next posts, it's only because I'm even growner than I was before. . . . .yes, you thought it was not possible, but it is possible to be even growner. Yes, I meant to say "growner." So yes, I am knocking on 40, and it's officially a grown woman.*

*(But not as grown as my husband, Harry- he's the original grown man.)

Harry a.k.a. The original Grown A-- Man, yes, with his sons getting a SHOE SHINE at Lenox.
A SHOE SHINE? Now tell me- what is growner than THAT?