I think I am going to have to save my money and invest in a laptop. I constantly have thoughts running through my brain and it just never seems to work out that I have a place to write them down or put thought to keyboard when I want to. So, that is thought number one on day number one of my new year!

A couple of years ago, before I was about to turn forty I was having a conversation with the sister of an old friend of mine. She was telling me that things change in your forties. She really didn’t elaborate but basically said it is different for different people. That you start to figure things out for yourself, come into your own and really become “yourself”. Of course I wasn’t there yet, so I really didn’t get it. I am now “in my forties” and starting to really get it.

Late last year the Judd Apatow movie “This is 40” came out. I saw it after several of my friends and actually went to the movie alone. Which is probably something that someone does in their 40’s that maybe they wouldn’t have done when then were younger. I laughed out loud, because I could relate. When I commented on facebook that I enjoyed the movie, one of my friends commented something like “really, I heard it wasn’t that good”. Maybe it’s a “40” thing (this person wasn’t quite there yet).

Several people I know are turning 40 this year. There has been a lot of chatter about this number and I remember how I was feeling before I had turned “that number”. Everyone says, it is just a number, and maybe I would agree with that, but as I am moving through the last couple of years I am thinking that maybe there is more to that.

As I said, I have a lot of different thoughts in my head right now, and rather than try to summarize them in one post – perhaps I will explore the possibilities of forty thoughts on 40.

I will leave you with this one thought this morning – the word Journey.

The first definition that came up for the word Journey was this:

• an act of travelling from one place to another

Which of course is the definition of Journey but not in the context that I am using the word. I went on further to the Oxford dictionary and it says the same thing, but below that it also says: 

•  a long and often difficult process of personal change and development

That makes more sense to me….
 
Stay tuned on my continued forty thoughts on 40. 

There are a lot of people that aren’t on facebook, or don’t like facebook, or think that people put too much out there on facebook. In the last few days (especially in the last few hours) all those people who have negative things to say about facebook should keep it to themselves.

Let’s start off with Sarah Watkin. She is a beautiful five year old girl fighting for her life. She has AML and needs a bone marrow donor to survive. This of course hits close to home for me since this is what Shari had to go through three years ago. I was very involved in the bone marrow drives and keeping my facebook profile active with all the details about drives, and information.

People all over facebook (myself included) have been sharing the details of Sarah’s need for a bone marrow donor, drives going on, and basic information on how to get on the bone marrow registry.

Several people have commented that they were already on the bone marrow registry because of the drives for Shari. That made me feel good that so many people were made aware a few years ago and took the time to register.

If you are not already on the registry, there is a bone marrow drive for Sarah on February 12th and a facebook page has been set up as well. Click here to get to the page. 

Let’s hope that Sarah gets her match soon and another life saved.

And now tonight, where through the eyes of social media we find out that someone in our community is missing a child. How could this be on a such a cold, wintery night like tonight? Who knows why? how? but there is a family out there searching for their child.

Within minutes and hours one person’s status update is shared with the community. Some might say “how does sharing a status update help?” But it does. It helps the family know that they are loved and that the community cares and is hugging them. No one wants to hear/read/see a story about child who is sick, a missing child. It is scary.

Tonight it is cold, snowy and we all want to be inside staying warm and comfortable.

My thoughts and prayers are going to the Watkin Family, and the Zimmermann and Bender families for their children.

Make sure you say I love you to the people in your life. Life is precious and we should never forget that. 

Only one thing left to say – I just called to say I love you.