Tomorrow I will be forty! It seems almost impossible. I can remember as if it were yesterday being 10 and my grandad saying what a big thing it was to be in double figures. I can also remember being 18 and having a big birthday party with my two best friends. I can remember being 21 and about to embark on life after uni with the bitter disappointment of a 2:2, which now seems so irrelevant. Being thirty – overweight and stressed about work. Being 32 and happily celebrating my first birthday on Danish soil (photo below). Up and downs but many ups over the years.
As you age birthdays seem to either take on a huge significance or seem irrelevant. A birthday with a zero on the end is always significant to me and I am looking forward to enjoying the day with my husband and son tomorrow. I have already enjoyed afternoon tea at Nimb with friends (below), next weekend its bubbly at the Bella Sky Bar with my oldest friend, who will be visiting from the UK (we can reminisce about that 18th birthday party we hosted a lifetime ago), my parents’ visiting in the summer and then a girls’ weekend in October with other friends, staying in a luxury apartment here in the city. As I am not the big party kind of person, this extended celebration suits me perfectly.
But for a moment of introspection – this year has not been how I saw the year I turned forty. I didn’t imagine a serious bike accident and surgery, subsequent side effects of medication leading to a stomach pump and colonoscopy, weight gain and ongoing battle with pain management and physio without a clear end in sight. The last few months, more than the early ones of this year, have seen my positivity reserves really taking a kicking.
But there have been many moments of pleasure too. After a period where I was unable to do normal things with my son, we have been able to have fun again – going on photowalks together, visiting our favourite museum, Louisiana and spending time together without my arm issue getting too much in the way. I am getting more writing work and this blog is flourishing. So June marks not just my entry into a new decade but also into the second half of a rather rubbish year and hopefully happier days.
Dejlige Days 
You’be been amazingly brave!
Please celebrate not only the person you are but as well your intelligence and strength to find ways to go through life (challenges and little gems) yet giving love and even inspiring total strangers!
I send you sincere and admirative wishes Melanie, for a very special 40th birthday xx
I for one know exactly how you feel when life sort of kicks you down at precisely the wrong time (as if there’s ever a good time, but you know what I mean). It sounds silly, but I believe it truly does give perspective on how good we have it otherwise, and a retrospective appreciation at how bad it could have been and wasn’t. It’s been such a trying year for you, so I can’t imagine a better reason to go all-out for your big day. I wish you all the best for all your upcoming celebrations. Happy 40th Melanie!
I hope you have a wonderful birthday.
Don’t worry about the weight gain too much… you only look 30. 🙂 and there are plenty of 20 year olds looking 40. You are the age you feel, but 00s on the end of ages are a very good excuse to party/have visitors for several months 🙂
Congratulations! Fourty & Fantastic 🙂 A warm welcome to the number 4.0 I myself just switched the 0 out with a 1. Anyway it feels good to be here & I hope you will enjoy all 10 of them 🙂
Tillykke med fødselsdagen! Many congratulations! Sorry to hear about your bike fail, sounds really ghastly. But, on the bright side, you probably couldn’t be in the better place, if you need looking after.
Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, round birthdays (those with a 0) are always special and even more so when you have had problems in the preceding months. Afternoon tea at Nimb sounds wonderful -are there special Danish afternoon tea delicacies linstead of the cucumber sandwiches and scones etc in an English afternoon tea?
Thanks for the birthday wishes! The afternoon tea there is kind of a hybrid of an English one and a Danish one. There were little finger sandwiches, scones and petit fours but also a rhubarb dessert. It was lovely and I can highly recommend it.
Thanks to everyone who commented so kindly here – it really means a lot! xxx
Happy Birthday Melanie, hope you have a lovely day and enjoy your celebrations throughout the year xx
[…] and that journey is far from over but it has also been a year of achievement and enjoyment. I turned forty this year and although I didn’t celebrate it in the way I hoped it was still memorable from a […]
[…] and that journey is far from over but it has also been a year of achievement and enjoyment. I turned forty this year and although I didn’t celebrate it in the way I hoped it was still memorable from a […]