25 Random Best Things About Turning 40

(I’ve gotten to be a junkie for everyone’s Facebook 25 random things. This seemed like an okay riff on that. Please add your own.)

1. I hate winter sports, and I don’t pretend to like them anymore. Including sledding.
2. My ego and my career are not so closely intertwined.
3. The sex drive.
4. Seeing Peter Murphy at brunch at the Ritz Carlton on the day of my birthday.
5. My clothes that I like still fit me.
6. I didn’t die from a broken heart after all.
7. I am even prouder now than I was then to have been part of the 80s hard-core punk Rock Against Regan shows in DC.
8. I can think about my Dad without crying, in a sad way.
9. I am clear that I work for money.
10. I can admit that I hate the whole idea of dating, and for that reason, have never done it.
11. I have more compassion for baby boomers.
12. I understand why people love Mary, Jesus’ Mom.
13. L.A. doesn’t seem as bad to me as it once did.
14. I have gotten more radical as I have gotten older, mostly because of my children.
15. I use the good family china that I inherited pretty much every day.
16. If I died tomorrow, I would be at peace.
17. I know that if I moved to the suburbs, I would die.
18. I have my own family, and it is much different from the one in which I grew up.
19. I admit when I am wrong.
20. I can dance stone cold sober.
21. I don’t mind men with beards anymore.
22. I am finally getting around to reading Paradise Lost, without feeling resentful of my mother.
23. I want to get it right.
24. I don’t hide my tattoos at formal occasions.
25. I could give a crap about my birthday.