Thursday, October 8, 2009

On Turning 40

My 30th birthday was one of the lowest days of my life. Not bad, no real drama, just low.

I was back home living with my parents, having moved back from Sydney 8 months earlier, with my lovely wife. I was in a basic part-time job bringing home less than $200 a week, and thus relying on my parents generosity to live. I had no immediate prospects of finding full-time work, meaning there was no immediate prospect of being able to move out of my parents house. And having it was already becoming clear that Helen and I would have a difficult time conceiving any children. So turning 30 was not the best time of my life.

Ten years later, and turning an age that appears to frighten a lot of people, where am I now?
Well, I'm still with my beautiful wife, who is still the light of my life. We are within six years of paying off our own home, which we have now had for almost nine years. I have a stable job in a good working environment with people I enjoy working and socialising with. We have three terrific children, our first Jessica through the miracle of science that is IVF, our two others Madeleine and Joshua through the miracle that is natural conception and birth (well, a miracle for us anyway! :) ).

So believe me - turning 40 is no drama at all. Those that fear it should embrace it, because the best part of all our lives is still yet to come.