Thursday, September 24, 2015

40 for 40

On August 1st I was at the city pool with a very dear friend talking about how I'd be turning the big 4-0 in less than two months time and how I should probably do something epic. Or go on a major vacation. Or buy something spectacular. Instead, I started thinking about how it might be sweet to do forty things. Tiny but beautiful things with people I loved. So I started to make a list under the newly discovered NOTES feature of my iPhone (yes, I'm a bit of a luddite).




My friend contributed his idea to start my 40 for 40 list, so #1 on my list reads, "Go out for a tiki drink with Zac" at a fun Boise bar we love, dressed in our greatest tiki attire, celebrating a kitschy era we appreciate. From there, the list grew to include things like having coffee with my friend Rachel, seeing Brandi Carlile in concert with a few of my favorite ladies, taking my eleven-year-old daughter Lucy to the fanciest French patisserie in town, having my first solo art exhibition, entering my herbs and garlic in the state fair, and browsing the feminist art section at Rainbow Books.



After a summer busy with camping and late night patio parties, I wanted to enjoy one last hurrah to my favorite season with our annual backyard movie night littered with neighbors and friends. I wanted to try paddleboarding with my daughters for the first time and wear fishnet tights and my FAT BABE pin while riding my bike in Tour de Fat. I infused my own vodkas to make a new signature cocktail, had ice cream cones at Fanci Freez, sexted (AHEM) my husband, and found the new baby anteater at Zoo Boise riding on his mama's back.

 
 
Sometime around August 15th, I saw (my new friend) Jae West's video go viral for all the best reasons and thought about it hard with all my fat activist and feminist thoughts and talked about it with some of the best people and came up with a plan which read, in simple non-sensational text in the NOTES section of my iPhone as #2 on my list, "body positive performance art downtown."

{photo courtesy Melanie Flitton Folwell}

Little did I know that my small subversive and personal experiment, one of the 40 things I should do before I turned 40, was to become one of the most life-altering and amazing accomplishments of my time here on this earth. I'm so damn proud of what we've achieved together in the body positive movement over the past month. We have ignited a revolution of love in honor of ourselves and each other.


{photos courtesy Melanie Flitton Folwell}
 
People are often saddened by the thought of turning forty, scared of what being middle-aged means. I say, 40 MIGHT JUST BE MY BEST YEAR YET. Tomorrow, September 25th, I celebrate 40 spectacular trips around the sun and look forward to an even brighter future, given the way we've changed the world, my friends. Thanks for the best birthday present a girl could ever imagine.

4 comments:

  1. This is for my baby that is turning "40". Where have the years gone. They go by so fast. You are a beautiful woman inside and out. I have always been proud of you but you just keep amazing me all the time. I could not be prouder of you. I am so glad you are my daughter. I will love you forever. Your mom

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  2. I get so excited to see all your posts. You even mentioned my step mom and dad in this one making it even a bit more exciting. They are the owners of Jan Jou. I hope you and your daughter enjoyed your visit there very much. It sounds to me like you have enjoyed every bit of your life and, again, I am inspired.

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  3. I get so excited to see all your posts. You even mentioned my step mom and dad in this one making it even a bit more exciting. They are the owners of Jan Jou. I hope you and your daughter enjoyed your visit there very much. It sounds to me like you have enjoyed every bit of your life and, again, I am inspired.

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  4. Amy, like so many, I saw your body acceptance stand and was really, really inspired. I'm a mom of three, just north of forty, and I've battled some of the same issues you describe. Thank you, thank you for such a cool and startling reality check. I am modeling for my kids that being awesome can take many forms, and every time I do it, it feels more natural. Keep going with your bad-ass self. We love it!

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