No, not Venice!
How did I arrive here on the precipice of a birthday I don’t want to admit? I guess I’m lucky — I’m told I look significantly younger than the age I am about to turn, so fibbing about the number of years I’ve been around is a viable option.
But as I was driving PunditGirl, the ice skating queen, home from her lesson today, I wondered, in the immortal words of David Byrne and The Talking Heads, ‘How did I get here?’
I was only slightly into my 40′s when we arrived home with a little PunditBaby. I had worked pretty hard for a long time in journalism and the law, and had landed a pretty cool job with a pretty cool title, a nice office and the sense that all the work I had put in since graduating from high school was paying off.
Then things changed. And I didn’t have a job to go back to.
A sign, I said to myself. A sign to stay home with my baby and spend some time with all those thoughts in my head about whether it was really the path I wanted to be on.
That was seven years ago. And in a week, I’ll have a birthday. Not one of the traditional milestones, but I tend to have my crises at odd times.
I’ve created a new path and there has been satisfaction in that. But there has also been a lot of downtime — time when, as today, I feel superfluous.
Just the one to do the laundry and hit the Giant and drill the addition facts. Someone whose mission is so tied to the growth of another that personal drive gets downshifted into first.
I thought I’d be further along on the sliding scale of success at this point, whatever that is. I see my life unfolding as an elementary school chauffeur and I’m not happy about it.
So, here’s to the next year. Where I focus on my newfound mantra of “Just say no.”
No to the extra school commitments. No to the work assignments that don’t flip my switch. No to some of my family’s requests so I can get a little of myself back.
Not just PunditMom, but PunditMe.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Pundit Me is perfect. And you know, for a forty something or other, you are one smoking mama, friend. hands down. smoking.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Love “PunditMe”. And I also have crises at strange times. Crisis away. You deserve it.
Oh, and you don’t look your age AT ALL.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
There is something about those forty something birthdays that hit us hard, no matter what choices we made or roads we went down.
Happy Birthday! PunditMe is indeed perfect. Here’s to a great year, PunditMe.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I have tagged you over on my blog.. Please partake. I would love to see the evolution of your blog!!
Thanks,
October 7th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
JESUS Joanne, we both posted the exact same lyric today. I’m channeling you today without even knowing it.
Happy birthday lady. I think you look divine for any age.
October 7th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
That’s a perfect resolution for your big b-day! Have a happy!
October 7th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Happy Birthday,PunditYou.
October 7th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
I love “PunditMe!” Perfect.
Yeah, you really don’t look your age. Seriously. I’m about to have a milestone birthday and I keep asking myself “how did I get here?” too. But in my case, it’s feeling too needed and not having enough of me to go around. (Hence, I’m reading blogs at 12:30 am.) It’s funny how quickly we pass from one stage to another, isn’t it.
Happy Birthday, my fellow Libra!
October 8th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Don’t Bossy know. Meanwhile, Happy Birthday.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I have to say that you could pass for a woman in her 30s. ANd Happy Birthday!
October 8th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Happy Birthday! And no you don’t look your age at all. Here I thought I was maybe older than you, but I think you must be a year or two older than me!
October 8th, 2007 at 10:50 am
“Not one of the traditional milestones, but I tend to have my crises at odd times.” Don’t I know it.
Happy Birthday!
October 8th, 2007 at 11:01 am
First of all you are so NOT just a chaueffer!! Good luck and you’ll figure it all out. And at least you know you look fabulous for whatever the heck age you are!!
October 8th, 2007 at 11:58 am
More than a chauffeur, for sure. Happy Birthday, PunditMe!
You figure out that balance thingy, you’ll post about it, right? I think a lot of us could use some help with the balancing act.
October 8th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Wow!! You do look considerablyyounger. (If I had to guess, I would have knocked off 10 years.) Lucky you!
Enjoy your birthday and enjoy saying “No!”
October 8th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Hmm, at the end of the first half of my thirties I find myself thinking, “If I could be a Bossy Pundit 10 or 15 years from now, I’d be doing just fine.”
October 8th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Happy birthday, and here’s wishing you all the best in making the next year the first year of PunditYou!
I tend to have my birthday crises at the more conventional milestones, but I think I’ve been where you are, and I think it sounds like you’re already on your way to the next, better stop on the path.
October 8th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
I love this post! I think many moms struggle with the same thing. I would love to get some of “me” back!
Hey….you just might be bringing “Sexy Back”!
Good grief….I am SUCH a child!
October 8th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
surreal + serene!
you’re both gorgeous!
crop this as your avatar
October 9th, 2007 at 9:10 am
You’re all so sweet — I don’t know where to start with my thanks for your encouragement and thoughts that I don’t look like my advancing age!
October 14th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Check out the book, The Power of a Positive No. I am here to tell you it will transform the way you say no, and how often you do it and how people perceive the no you are sending their way. Happy Birthday.