Working Title: 37 = Heaven.

To be very clear, I would not like to go to heaven in my 37th year. (I am all for that privilege one day, should such a place exist in the afterlife but I would prefer it be a day when I'm old and gray and many years from now. For the record I am also anti a visit to hell as a 37 year old.)
Never-the-less I am a birthday rhymer and it what goes better with a seven than heaven, right?
So here we are. 37 and I are still in the early stages of getting to know one another; we're going on just shy of two weeks together. So far though, I venture to say we are going to get along quite well.

My birthday was wonderful from start to finish, as I hope most everyone's birthdays always are. I took the day off of work (genius!) so never once on my first day as a 37 year old did I have to deal with annoying emails or crises that aren't really crises but everyone thinks are crises and really, the day would have been a win right there with that brilliant decision. My 37 year old self kicked things up a notch though, squeezing every minute of fun available in the day with things like presents and yoga and spa massages and oysters and glasses of rose and mani/pedis and a hair blow out. All day I felt a little like Dorothy when she finally arrives in the Emerald City and is promptly shuttled away for a bit of grooming and maintenance in the Merry Old Land of Oz. As I ended the night with charming company and a delicious Italian dinner, I couldn't help but think 37 was quite alright, and she could stay.

Like most people, it always takes a few days for my new age to sync in and it wasn't until the following weekend when someone mentioned an event that happened in 1977, commenting in the same breath that that was almost 40 years ago when I realized acutely that I am 37. I am THIRTY SEVEN. I mean, I don't actually think 37 is all that old really (age is relative and all that) but gosh, I don't think as a kid I ever thought I would ever be a 37 year old. I mean, people in their late 30's just seemed so old back then. And now, woah, here I am. Not that I actually feel old or ancient or any of that. If anything, I find myself inspired by the great Ann Patchett, whom I saw speak in Cambridge the other night, when she said - as a 52 year old woman - "I wouldn't go back to my 20's for anything. Trust me, you think you don't care in your 30's? Wait until you get to 50. Then you really just do whatever you want and no longer care at all what anyone else thinks."

It's so freeing isn't it? To just be yourself and do your thing and chase after goals and dreams you have set for yourself because you can; because you will. I love that the most about my 30s, honest. They have been the most fun decade and I am happy I have three more years among them.

As is my custom, I bought myself a birthday present. I went back and forth quite a bit this year trying to decide what treat I would allow myself. As loyal readers know I tend to default to a coveted bag or boot but this year I kept thinking to myself I wanted to change my self gift-giving up yet not knowing how. I had already treated myself to a few new fall clothing items earlier in September (Labor Day sales) so a clothes shopping spree wasn't really going to fit the bill either. Naturally I didn't want to buy something just for the sake of buying something and so I almost called off my great birthday tradition this year until...it dawned on me one night as I was falling asleep.

That turquoise tea kettle.

Back in July I had been out window shopping when this lovely turquoise (a favorite color of mine) tea kettle caught my eye. Now, I didn't really need a new kettle; the one I had been using for the past five years or so was working just fine. Plus it was July and my tea drinking drops dramatically in the summer months. And so I passed on said tea kettle as pretty as she was, going about my summer routines.

But then, a wee or so before my birthday, it dawned on me that there would be NO better time for my new kettle to come home than on my birthday. And so it came to pass. She's not the most frivolous or expensive gift I have ever treated myself to on my birthday but she sure is one of prettiest.