Kim Wilbanks

I had a big birthday this week.  It wasn’t the big one ending in “0” but it was a big one for me.  It was a birthday ending in “9” — the last birthday of the decade.

In my experience, the “9” birthdays are harder than the big __0 birthdays.  I have a theory about that.  When you have one of those “nine” birthdays, whether it’s 29, 39, 49 or 59, you know you’re entering the last year before the big one.  You are staring at full year of anticipating a decade change.  Possibly, a year of dread.  Once you pass the decade mark, it’s kind of anti-climatic.  You’re starting at the beginning of the decade again.  You can breathe a sigh of relief because you have an entire ten years before the next big one.

It would be easy for me to be gloomy about this birthday.  I’m getting to that age where I realize  I’m probably not going to do all of the things I want to do or see all the things I want to see.  My photos will probably not all make it into photo albums.  My perpetual New Year’s resolution to get organized may never materialize.  I could be gloomy but I’m not because I have a friend’s example to follow.

A friend of mine turned 59 last December.  She decided to spend the following twelve months either learning something new or traveling somewhere new.  She posted her experience on social media and I enjoyed following her.  After some conversations with my friend,  I decided to do the same. 

I’ve started a list for the upcoming year.  I’m going to call it #kimscountdowntosixty.  This is what I’ve come up with so far. 

• See the Northern Lights – I am going on a trip with my husband, my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and two cousins and their spouses in January.  We are going on a northern lights cruise in Norway.  I can’t wait but we’re going to freeze!
• Make spaghetti completely from scratch — the pasta and the sauce.  I’m talking tomatoes, onions, flour, etc.  I may even attempt bread as well.  I’ll probably even ask some friends over to enjoy it with me, if they’re brave enough.
• Take a creative penmanship class.  I’ve  had an online class downloaded for a couple of years.  I’m determined to complete it this year.
• Learn how to make a really good, English scone.
• Get another puppy and train him or her really well
• Go to the Cumberland Gap.
• Write a book — I’m actually in the process now. I just need to finish, hopefully during 2020.

That’s all I have on my list right now.  My friend told me she planned a few months out at a time and left room for ideas that came up.  I also have some other things I want to do but they are more like goals I want to achieve.  At the top of that list is to make photo books of some of the major trips I went on in 2017 and 2018.

What do you think about big birthdays?  Which do you think are harder — the ones that end in nine or the ones that end in zero?  What would you put on a birthday year list?