What a way to kick off a year of celebration!

This morning, I picked up my mother and we went to the Colonial House to participate in the Deseret Foundation Quilting Day. I spent the day hand piecing Drunkard’s Path blocks which will be assembled and auctioned to help neonatology units in local hospitals. I had great company, a free lunch (with the largest, stalest éclair you’ve ever seen), and met some great women. I may just go do it next month too.
I did have some razzing when I got back to the office about doing “old lady” things on my “old lady” birthday. But, I really don’t think of quilting as an “old lady” activity not when there are designers like Lisa Boyer who is definitely not an old lady. My local quilting partner is a newlywed in her twenties, and my 13 year old son is the youngest member in the local quilt guild. Just like knitting is enjoying a popular resurgence, I think many of the hand crafts are reaping the benefits. The quilt shops carry knitting yarn which brings in the teenagers who are knitting now. The part that intrigues my son is the math, well, and playing with the sewing machine and the iron.He’s working on his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Quilts and plans to enter the guild contest this year. The other reason for my attending this event was to learn how to piece Drunkard Path blocks since that is one of the contest styles for this year. I have an idea for a twist on it. After the Quilting Day, my mom took me shopping and I got the background fabric for my guild contest quilt. I can’t wait to get started on it.

Today I turn 40

If I die at the age my grandmothers did, then today, I am at the cusp of middle age. Somewhere in the next 20 years, I’m supposed to discover wisdom, and all the other virtues associated with revered elders. Do people today even pick the brains of the generation before them? I feel horrid for not learning more about my neighbor who was a WAC in WWII before she developed Alzheimer’s. She’s part of my inspiration. History is made by audacious women even if it’s only great family stories to pass on and inspire the next generation to be swifter, reach higher, be stronger, to paraphrase the 2002 Olympic motto. I’m here to disprove the words of the philosopher, Meatloaf, “a wasted youth is better by far, than a wise and productive old age.” Since I didn’t waste my youth, or at least I didn’t think I did, I’m here to have a wise and productive old age. I’ve done a lot of things on my list of stuff to do before I die but many of the items are still languishing undone. So this is my year to kick it into gear, to focus on being who I want to be and practice for the day that “I wear purple with a red hat.” This whole idea began to coalesce following a comment at the Sandy Stitchers quilt guild meeting when someone asked how old I was since they thought I was the youngest guild member (I’m not, my son is). I announced that I would be 40 in February. One woman overhearing me commented, “It’s not something to brag about.”
And why isn’t being 40 something to brag about? Why do we have to celebrate the culture of youth? Kate Hudson claims the meaty roles for an actress only come after 30 but according to Christine Lahti at the Sundance Film Festival "I became a director by default. When I turned, what, 35, the scripts got fewer and fewer. I'm at my creative peak. Am I going to sit around and become bitter? That was not an option for me. There's clearly a double standard in the industry. It's deplorable.” She was there premiering her film “My First Mister.” We revere men as they age and give them better roles, but women are quickly crowded out unless they find their own way (Way to go, Emma Thompson!).
I intend to celebrate my age this year. I’m going to do things that I’ve always wanted to do but kept putting off for someday. Now it’s someday.

The List for this Year

• Learn to Autocross
• Ride the Carousel in Carson Cty, Co
• Go to the CATS Stitching Festival
• Enter a quilting Contest
• Go to the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City, UT
• Go to a movie in Park City at the Sundance Film Festival
• Attend the Frontsight, NV 4th of July Celebration
• Publish a cross-stitch design
• Write something other than my blog and look for an agent or publisher
• Wear real fur to the Opera
• Take a photographic trip with my kids
• Teach my kids something about their ancestors
• Support my husband better in launching his business
• Enter something I've made in the State Fair
• Climb to the Glacier on Mt. Timpanogoos (maybe even with the kids)
• Audition for a play, movie, or TV show
• Take a belly dancing class
• Participate in the MS 150 bike ride
• Get to the weight I was when I married (with luck, I'll be able to fit into my dress again).
• Create an artistic canvas piece worth hanging in the house
• Learn to shoot a bow and arrow
• Go Ice Fishing
• Learn to snowshoe or cross-country ski
• Start on a master's degree
• Meet some of the people who helped shape my life
• Start reading the series of Great Books that the Encyclopedia Britannica salesman told us we would need when our daughter was born.
• Move my daughter up to college
• Look for a black opal I want to own
• Decorate my house seasonally
• Have dinner at the Crab Cooker in Newport Beach, CA
• Share this year with friends and meet new people
• (I would love to meet my Broad Squad in person)
• Do at least 10 things that will make a difference in the world around me.
• See if other people will join me in getting out of a rut and having fun!

This is my year.