My 40th birthday wish

As it so happens, I am now 39 and three quarters.  (That is, if adults still said their age the way kids do, but that stopped being the in thing somewhere around age 13, didn't it.....)  Suffice it to say, then, that I'm in the sunset of my 30s.  Well, more like the mid-late evening of my 30s.  If my 30s were a day, I'd be in bed already by now.

Now, in a perfect world, I'd be celebrating my 40th birthday by sitting in the front row, center seat of the theater for this.  But, it isn't a perfect world, and that isn't going to happen.  I mean, not only is my birthday during one of the craziest times of the year (11 days before Christmas), but this year, my birthday is on a Wednesday.  Also? Broadway is about six hours away from my house by car, and nowadays, the cost of one ticket is more than it used to cost my entire family to see a Broadway show back when I was a kid.  (Which, granted, was way back in the Olden Days, especially to hear Kiddo talk about it.)  I don't even want to know how much a front row ticket would be.  Probably way more than I spend on groceries for our family for an entire month.

So, clearly this is not a perfect world.  (A fact which has been made abundantly clear over and over again in the past year, le sigh.)  That's why I've come up with an alternate plan to celebrate my birthdayweekmonth.  Best of all, it's something that YOU, dear reader, can help me with!  So, win-win, right?  I mean, I just know you were wondering what on earth you could get me for my big 4-0.  Right?  (Humor me and nod enthusiastically, if you don't mind.  Thanks!)

Here's what I'm hoping we can do for my birthday: I want to have a worldwide celebration* of helping others.  Paying it forward.  Doing good deeds.  If I can get 40 people to do 1 Good Thing between now and my actual 40th birthday, that would be just about the best present ever.  (Or 20 people to do 2 Good Things.  Or 10 to do 4.  I'm not picky.)

It doesn't have to be a BIG Good Thing, either.  I'm not asking y'all to turn into Mother Teresa/Ghandi/Ryan Gosling here.  Just, you know, do something good.  Spend an hour or two helping at a soup kitchen or food pantry.  Pay the toll for the guy behind you on your way to work.  Offer to watch the kids for that mom who never gets a night off.  Stop by a nursing home and visit with someone who is lonely.  Overtip the waitress at the diner.  Mow your neighbor's lawn or rake their leaves or shovel their snow (hey, I live in upstate NY - we'll have snow before I'm 39 and 5/6ths).  Send your mom some flowers.  Make a point of looking everyone in the eye and smiling at them for one day.  (Everyone - this is harder than you'd think.  Believe me, I've tried.)  You get my drift.

Now, I've been fighting a losing battle against the interwebz all day.  So, I'm not going to attempt to do a Mr. Linky thingamabob because then I might just break the internet once and for all, and I don't want that on my record.  Instead, if you do do a Good Thing in honor of me getting old (heh heh heh, I just said "do do") (what? I am getting old, not mature), please comment here, if you would, and let me know.  I haven't broken my blog comment email notifications yet, so that'll work.  If I get to 40 things by my big 4-0 on December 14th, I'll be beyond thrilled.  And since it is my birthmonth, instead of my usual birthweek, I'd be beyond thrilled if we got to 40 good things by December 31.  Like I said, I'm really not picky.

So, there you have it.  What I'd really love to get for my 40th birthday.  Please consider playing along - it would mean more than you know.

*(Worldwide could happen - my stat meter tells me of blog hits from all over the world!  They aren't all from weirdos searching for the word "boobs" either.  I know real, lovely people who live as far away as Australia who read my blog....)