It’s official. I’m 40.

So, yesterday was my birthday. I’m officially 40-something now. And, I’m OK with that (mostly).

It was a busy day, including lunch with my family and later a grown-up bowling party with friends. My sister’s birthday is Feb 22 and her daughter’s birthday is Feb 28, so we always have a family get-together for all of us. We had one more thing to celebrate this year. My sister, who just turned 42, faced a lung cancer scare, but we got the news Thursday that the CT scan was clear. She’s fine. No cancer. That alone is worth a big party.

So, we lunched and traded gifts. I got her a happy, happy, happy yellow purse for spring. She got me emerald earrings since it’s my big 4-0. It’s tradition. I got her diamonds for her 40th. She got me emeralds to go with my wedding ring for mine.

In addition to footing the bill for the bowling party, Tom splurged and redecorated my office last month. Since I work at home and have many deadline stresses, he decided it was time I had a real, grown-up office. That chair is from Sealy (yes, the bed people), and it has about a million adjustments. Very comfy.

It’s too cold right now, but we also have new windows to install this spring. I’ll figure out the window coverings then. As you can see, Lilly has her own little sofa in the corner.

The first two shelves have photos of family and the dogs. The third shelf is my canine memorial shelf, featuring photos of my late Dal, Penelope Grace, in her red sweatshirt and of Cody, our late lab mix snuggling with me while I read.

I also received some lovely gifts from pals — wine, skincare items, etc.

BUT, perhaps the sweetest gift came from my niece, Rachel … my sister’s only child, who will be 7 this week. Inside my card, she put 83 cents in change from her own piggy bank. She divides her allowance like this — one-third to spend, one-third to save, one-third to donate. She LOVES to spend, but she took 83 cents from her spending bank and gave it to me. I just about cried. Is that NOT the sweetest thing?

Celebrating my fellow 40 pals!
It turns out that some writers I know around the country turned or will turn 40 very soon. So, here’s my tribute to a few gals who have been so supportive of my writing career:

Michele Wojciechoski (aka Wojo)
A humor writer, who also does a little stand-up now and then. If you’d like to read her work regularly, subscribe to her humor column (really funny essays) at wojowriter [at] aol [dot] com.

Laura Laing
An amazing woman who recently donated part of her liver to her dad. Sadly, post-surgical complications ended his come-back. Look for her work in newspapers and magazines across the country. Check out her credentials online.

Dara Chadwick
She had a year-long writing gig with SHAPE magazine in 2007 about her weight-loss efforts. Now, she continues to blog on the topic.

I’m sure there are others, so dearest FLX pals, if you are turning 40 this year and want to plug your latest writing gig or blog, please post a comment!