I have a tendency to round up the ages of everyone in the family once they have passed the half-way mark of their year, and I do this particularly when the birthdays are in the latter part of the calendar year. With the kids that habit is probably due to the age divisions they are placed in for sport. Zoe, for instance, doesn't turn 9 till October, but I've been thinking of her as '9 this year' all year because she has had to be in the 9 years age group for school sport, and for netball. Alison played 12s rep netball, so her birthday in July seemed somewhat of an anticlimax, because I'd been thinking of her as 12 all year.

So for a good part of this year, I've already started thinking of myself as 'almost 45'... '45 in August'.. and so I know when the actual day arrives this Sunday, it won't actually feel quite such a landmark. (I think. I hope.) Being a '_5' birthday seems a little more significant; perhaps only as a top of the hill marker, from whence it is is a downhill run to 50. Which IS just a teeny bit freak-me-out-ish, and I will probably only cope with that because, thankfully, so many of the other mums I hang around with seem to be all about the same age.

I have also had to become a bit hardened and blasé about my age because I married a man two years younger than myself. With his birthday only 5 days before mine, he delights in using that age difference to keep himself feeling younger. "Not as old as YOU though", he chuckles, poking me in the side. (Nice bloke, huh?)

I just hope I don't subconsciously apply my 'rounding up' modus operandi to the decade, and start thinking of myself as 50 before my time.

45 .. "mid-forties"... seems so much younger, and on my birthday I intend to 'celebrate' by going bike riding so as to keep deluding my body that it is younger than it is, and so that I can burn off enough calories so as to enjoy a few quiet wines over a meal that I don't intend to cook. Maybe someone will make me cake and not stuff it up! Yes, I know my ideas of a good birthday are a bit weird (the exercise bit, anyway, and no mention of party-partying) but that's the way I am these days, and I am finally becoming comfortable in my own skin about it. Perhaps at 45 I am starting to accept who I am, regardless of whether it is how other people are.

I'm also planning on feeding my inner sloth by a self-indulgent sleep-in. What a bonus that this year's birthday falls on a Sunday!!

I'm also going to attempt a blogging-free weekend! Wish me luck!

Labels: birthdays