Reflections on 40

Well, I'm not quite 40. That doesn't happen until 10:57pm this evening. I got the usual black-iced cookie bouquet, the over-the-hill signs, and all the AARP jokes. It was a good day. I've mentioned my former colleague who is fighting cancer. Over the holidays, we learned that another of our good friends was diagnosed with cancer. L. came to my "pizza dinner" last night. She's started her chemo treatments. When L. got out of the hospital after Christmas, she mentioned that her hair would probably fall out. I told her that if it did, I'd shave my head with her. Last night she told me that it was starting to thin and I'd better get ready. I told her to call me and we'd go together. It may happen in a couple of weeks after a few more treatments. Neither of these two friends is 40 yet. When you move away from all your friends, you can only hope to find new ones like L. and P. I don't understand why these things seem to happen, but I know that I'll do all I can to make sure that we get to string "Over The Hill" signs for their 40th birthdays.