Black Eyed Peas and Cabernet

Let me just tell you this: being almost 41 years old rocks!  Recently I was having a conversation with a good friend about age.  Both of our birthdays are comin' soon to a theatre near us, and we were lamenting a bit about how body parts just don't work as efficiently as they once did - or look the same, for that matter.  But we both had a laugh and agreed that it's all character building and doesn't really matter. 
Then a little later during the conversation, it dawned on me that I hadn't yet told her how great it is to get to forty - she's approaching the turn soon, but not quite yet.  This is what I told her: On the day of your fortieth birthday, a little alarm sounds off in your brain and commands all of your insecurities and personal confidence issues to stand down.  It's true!  It's very peculiar and often you don't even realize it's happened.  But then, there you are, answering random questions out loud in a fancy boutique - then you realize the sales person was not talking to you at all - or you're in the grocery store lifting ten pounds of flour into your cart when you are alerted to the fact that there is a hole in the flour sack and you end up finishing your errands with strategically placed puffs of flour on the front of your black, wool jacket - as well as a skiff of it on your face - and YOU DON'T CARE!  Really!!  It's true! 
And the best thing - is that it can happen anywhere - and it still doesn't matter!  For example, just this past weekend, my husband and I were dining at a well-known,  rather elegant restaurant in the downtown area celebrating our birthdays.  I was in the middle of one of my stories about how one of the kids was singing a Black-Eyed Peas song inserting their own words - and of course, I needed to sing it to him so he would better understand the moment.  However, just as I was "quietly" singing the new rendition to him, the Maitre'd was also leaning in closely to ask how our scallops and bruscetta were tasting.  Obviously, he was treated to a rather odd song about ding dongs, Pei Wei, and puppy dogs.  Guess what?  I didn't even think of that story until right now!!!  See?  Didn't matter!  It's awesome! 
And the icing on the cake?  At that particular restaurant, birthdays are celebrated - not by a throng of un-enthused waitstaff singing a tired round of "Happy Birthday" to you and then slapping a sombrero on your head - but instead by awarding you a dollar for each of your years toward the purchase of a bottle of wine.  (We won't mention, that my husband spoke up at that point and offered, "She looks pretty hot for eighty, huh?")  In my world of Three Buck Chuck at Trader Joe's, $41 buys a nice, with hints and notes of something or other, bottle of Cabernet.
So, bring it on forty-one! And yes, the Black Eyed Peas came before the wine - I swear.