Good Day, Good Friends!

You know I’m wishing you well today! Most importantly healthy, but also wishing you happy…

I am taking my ease today, as it was a long few weeks. I need a quiet day.

I’m up in the tree house as usual. I really do have the prettiest trees, sunlight, and breeze…

Home.

I am thinking about my birthday a bit. It’s September 2nd, and I am turning 40 years old. I’m not one to dwell about such things. But all of a sudden, I’m thinking about it…

I’m going to be 40.

The day will come and go. Any regular Wednesday. And my 30’s will be gone from me. But I can say, I learned so much the last decade. About what I need to feel my most healthy and happy…

Which means I can enjoy, all those things I gleaned, in the years still to come…

I went to my annual dermatologist appointment last Monday. The nurse spoiled me with samples when I asked for them. I left feeling like a bona fide kid in a candy store.

I am always prepared that they might need to cut something out right then and there, and leave me with a stitch or two to wait out a screening result…

This is one of the lessons I learned in my 30’s.

I learned to embrace and commit to going to the doctor. When you are young, you rest on your health. But young people don’t see the dark clouds that might be awaiting them. Many preventable.

You must go to the doctor for your regular screenings. It could save your life.

I remember in my late twenties, a colleague who was talking at the lunch table about all the interesting results of her doctor’s visit. About how she could view it all online, and see things more in-depth. Really understand her body. I thought she was really brave.

I envied her. Why was I so scared?

I finally learned to toughen up too. And I’m so thankful I did.

Now may I toot my own horn?

My dermatologist said my skin was beautiful. I told her it’s because I’m a vegetarian and drink my green juice everyday.

Let me just bask, okay? Drinking a bottle of ‘front lawn’ and eating salad for dinner every night has to get me somewhere, right?

My dermatologist is so sweet.

That is another lesson I learned in my 30’s.

Eat to feel healthy.

You know, I was lucky. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up, and grandma had a garden. And grandma made me eat my veggies. And grandma made home cooked meals from scratch.

Of course, as you grow into adulthood, you have the choice to indulge, often to one’s detriment. And trust when I say, I have indulged friends. I lived one heck of a few decades, of pure, insane, sinful, indulging. I have lived. I lived a little too much…

And had one cheese plate too many.

And then, the foundation grandma wisely planted in me, came full circle, and I would need to call on it.

I started to get sick. From my overindulgence…

You know, I remember grandma taking those lettuce greens right from the garden, shaking up a mason jar of homemade dressing, and eating that salad. She wanted me to have one too, but even though I did eat and learn to love my veggies, I wasn’t too keen on that salad. I was a kid. But today, I’m guided by that memory. Grandma Ina, I appreciate you so much. Thank you.

Now, I think the most fortunate gift, is simply to have healthful food in my house…

A calm place to lay my head. To be able to afford to go to the doctor, and heed their advice. To have a good night’s sleep, with peace in my heart. To listen to myself, and know when I’m overdoing it. To not stir stress within myself or others, whenever I can avoid it. To tame the hornet I can sometimes be; to have more patience, acceptance, and love…

I gained temperance in every way by the end of my 30’s.

It was sometimes painfully gained. But I am glad.

I’m ready 40. Let’s do this.

Stay Inspired.