I'm a big girl now.

(Kitty here) - I turned forty.

On my actual birthday, Wednesday, we stayed out late, riding the Colonial Tram Car around town. You eat a five course dinner in a cute little velvet lined trolley car as it makes its way through all the inner suburbs.

The meetup spot for the tram was across the street from the casino, where we went to kill a few minutes and won enough money to pay for above mentioned tram dinner cruise. Sweet.

Tom played hooky from work the next day - we rented a Prius, loaded it up with booze and party foods, he (finally) got his Australian driver's license, we both had facials and we went out for tapas. The next day, his boss asked how his flu was (it's going around here) and Tom says, "Oh. I didn't have the flu. I stayed out too late celebrating my wife's birthday." Shameless bad boy, he slays me.

We invited guests over on Saturday afternoon for a oceanic tub of sangria and cascading mountain range of hors d'oeuvres. About thirty people came by - my girls group, reading clubs, other expats, Bollywood dance buddy, neighbors, half a punk band, friends, friends of friends of friends, a few people we'd never met, a dog and two babies. My girlfriends lent us dishware, cooked, kept the shrimp dumplings steamy, cleaned up, and made sure that all these fabulous and different individuals felt welcome. It's scary to "let your beams cross", but everyone seemed to have a fun time, even/especially Tom.

There were a lot of banner moments this week, a few where I was so moved, grateful, at peace or overcome with happy that I lost my breath for a spell.

Tom started his scuba course today and will be certified for open water diving in Cairns ("The Great Barrier Reef") this time next month.

Today we found out that there is a wickedly lovely apartment down the hall from ours that is on the market. I'm going to the mortgage agency tomorrow and see what it will take to qualify. I'd imagine that will end with "You. And a job." After doing a little research, I'm not optimistic. Even if I can't have what I want, it's not like some random ephemeral force is holding me back....kind of nice to have such a direct connection between one's choices and the associated outcomes.

It's winter but palm trees are everywhere, I'm driving a car that makes no noise and barely uses gas, people came to our house and saw my art and said they'd like me to do some pieces for their homes, and they gave me gifts even though I begged them not to and Tom has even taken to sleeping well again.

So many people rue the day they turn forty... Not so much, me.