People ask me “What does it feel like to turn 40?”. The answer is that I threw away all of my white socks, and went to Costco and bought 36 new pairs of identical white socks. That was a few weeks ago, and I cannot explain how helpful that decision has been. Also:

Taylor threw me a “surprise” family birthday dinner- I knew that some friends were invited to the party as well, but didn’t quite know who so it was a really, really fun surprise to see friends- new and old- show up.

Looking through things, I didnt get any pictures of some of our “new friends” (meaning, less than 10 years, hahaha), but Clint Swaringen, Mark and Margaret, and several others showed up too. Thank you all for coming- it was great to see you!

These people have been around for every important milestone since I was 16 years old- and that is something absolutely significant in my life (also, we missed you Cores, hope you get over the strep throat quickly, we will make it up some other time!).

My 18th birthday, 21st birthday, 30th birthday, 40th birthday- not to mention weddings, graduations, kids birthdays, Halloweens, Memorial Days, New Years Eve’s, etc. I digress.

Ok ok, the pictures from above aren’t EXACTLY from my 18th birthday, 21st birthday, or 30th birthday- but they are all AROUND those times. It turns out I don’t have many pics from those events because digital pictures weren’t exactly big, nor was there an awesome blog to record such moments in my life.

But the pictures from above are around those times- and the very last image with me and Charlie Hiser and Houston and Taylor Symons WAS from my 30th birthday- that was a wild night just over a month after Rosie was born, and we didn’t take many pictures that evening, and for good reason.

It really was an honor to have so many important people show up- life throws lots of curve balls, but I feel like a rich man to have the company of such good friends for all of the important moments.

Taylor gave a speech. Here is evidence, that I am still “fun” despite feeling like a boring old dad sometimes:

In the old days, Taylor would put her speech on a cake, in the form of a poem. We have come a long ways together since then 🙂

Somehow I got away without being roasted- over the years these people had plenty of ammunition for a moment like this. It was probably because children were around, but the Lynam’s gave a special speech as well:

Thank you Taylor for putting this together- it meant more than I thought it would. You make it look easy to put together such fun events.