Turning 40, Part 1: Dan Is 40 Now

My husband, Dan, and I are both turning the big 4-0 this year. Technically, Dan is already forty, and I quit having birthdays after age thirty-five.

Seriously, folks, I don't know what forty is like yet, so don't ask. I have until June. Dan turned forty last week, but he doesn't have much insight either.

I felt bad for Dan at first. Fortieth birthdays are supposed to be spectacular. But I have never been able to come up with creative party ideas, and I don't stay up past 9:30 most of the time anyway now that I'm approaching forty.

In the end, I shouldn't have worried. My crazy family took care of the funny turning forty stuff. In fact, Dan pretty much celebrated his birthday for an entire week.

You may remember this photograph from last weekend's post.

Over Easter weekend, we were visiting family, and they gave him cake and a few gag gifts. My brother and his wife gave Dan a Star Wars card with a talking Yoda and light-up candles you can blow out. Once the candles are out, the Star Wars theme plays.

"Whoa, this cool!" Dan said.

It was the most excited reaction he had to anything he received this year (and probably ever).
My dad also insisted on giving Dan toilet targets. (My stepmother wanted to make sure I knew it was my dad's idea and not hers.) Dan is actually thinking about trying them out sometime. Good grief . . .

 

A few days later, his real birthday arrived, and he got more awesome gifts from his wife. 

The following weekend, we had barbecue for dinner (obviously his choice since I'm practically a vegetarian), and we went to two movies of his choosing. (See the titles below, and you will know why I say "his choosing.")

Birthday Movie #1: The Fate of the Furious

Birthday Movie #2: Logan

The day after Dan's birthday, my boss also turned forty.

"Is he having as much trouble with it as I am?" my boss asked me.

"I don't know. I never can tell with Dan. He doesn't really have trouble with anything."

That afternoon, I sent a picture of my boss’s decorated office to Dan.

"Just be glad no one did this to your cubicle," I texted.

"Yet another reason not to tell people at work about my birthday," Dan texted back.

Oops! I guess now they all know. 

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.