This is What 39 Looks Like

Today is my birthday. 39.

Real 39 though, not that “39” that people say when they’re really 40.

Overall I have no problem being 39, except maybe when Nate, who’s eight years younger and thinks he’s 16 (see also: Guitar Hero) says things like “um…maybe you shouldn’t be wearing that skirt that’s one inch above your knees.”

Like I’m 70.

Like I’m dead.

So far I must say that 39 is not so bad, you young’ns out there who fear the bigger numbers. I’m liking it so much, I might just try it again next year. We’ll see.

As you can imagine, this is a tough birthday to have, especially in New York City. I elaborated on this last year and I don’t want to rehash it too much again. But for the last six years, it’s been hard to celebrate unabashedly when your birthday is at best a silver lining. I don’t want my birthday to be the silver lining. I want it to be the big fluffy white cloud with the rainbow behind it and the unicorn prancing overhead. Okay, so maybe I stole that image off a satin pillow I owned in 7th grade. Better that than the glittery t-shirt I owned at the same time that said tender sweet young thing. I don’t care for my birthday to be about tender sweet young thing, unless it’s describing a rack of lamb that I am eating over herbed risotto, with a bottomless bottle of Montrachet.

While there’s a lot of stuff to mourn today, in ways it helps to shed light on a lot of stuff I have to be grateful for as I round out my fourth decade on this planet.

High on the list:

Screen Shot 2013-09-04 at 10.51.55 AM

This is what 39 looks like, with one arm wrapped around what 89 1/2 looks like.

I’ll take it.

{99 Comments}

99 thoughts on “This is What 39 Looks Like”

  1. Happy Birthday Liz! You claimed this day about 33 years before 2001. I think you can have the fluffy cloud.

  2. it’s all fun and games until the unicorn puts someone’s eye out.hope your birthday is free of sharp objects in your eyes.

  3. I turn 39 on 9/30. I’ve always been fine with my age. Then, this past weekend, I went to NYC with my sister for a little vacation. Some kind New Yorker decided to guess the difference in our ages and guessed two years. My sister loved that…loved it because she is FOURTEEN years older than me. 39 feels a little different now.

  4. We’re just gettin’ started! The 30’s are rocking my world for more reasons than I thought possible.

  5. Aww, come on. Nate is just policing your skirts because you’re hot and he doesn’t want some other younger man stealing you. Well, and it seems to me men have this weird “mother of my child” issue sometimes, too . . .Imagine I am singing some sort of obnoxious restaurant-style Happy Birthday song involving balloons, clapping, and possibly a sombrero in your honor.

  6. Happy birthday Liz. I’ll be right there with you next summer.Have a wonderful day. Not in a silver lining sort of way, but in a defiant spit in their eye life is going on despite it all sort of way. In a dance like nobody’s watching sort of way.

  7. Happy Birthday! Wishing you fluffy clouds with unicorns, rainbows, and happy octopi waving their little tentacles in celebration. 🙂

  8. Happy Birthday you sexy almost-40, you!!ALL my favorite people are Virgos!ALL of them!We need to get together with our white gloves and organize our spice racks sometime.Smooches!

  9. I think I gave you that unicorn satin pillow as your bat mitzvah gift. And if I remember correctly I had a major fight with my mother over how much it cost – but I argued successfully that for my best friend, it wasn’t too much to pay. Now I get to tell her that you still use it for inspiration!Score!September 11 will always be about you, baby… and how fabulous you are and will continue to be – well into you later years…See you at 40, soon!

  10. 89 1/2 looks like 60! Amazing! Happy birthday my dear. And when you decide to join me in my decade next year, we’ll have to celebrate , even if you’d rather wait until the 12th to do it. Much love and keep hiking up your skirt.

  11. You have good Genes. Your jeans are cute too. Happy birthday. Come on over to Bossy’s place and help her celebrate her son’s 18th birthday. Oyvey.

  12. Happy Birthday, suweet-heart. You make 39 look SPECTACULAR.And? Happy BIRTHday to your fabulous mom. The world really oughta thank her, big time, for you.

  13. Happy Birthday, Liz – having celebrated the 4th anniversary of my 39th birthday, I get it – you look fabulous and your mother is absolutely gorgeous.You are very blessed – physically and…well…basically, everything else – and have every rite to enjoy the day.

  14. Happy Birthday, Liz! Both 39 and 89 1/2 are absolutely Gorgeous!! Tell your husband to turn off football and take you OUT.

  15. Happy Birthday! I was pregnant when I was 39. In fact, I had a baby shower on my 40th birthday, so that “big one” went by pretty much unnoticed.

  16. Happy birthday, dear! I’ll be 32 this month….and you look younger than I do.Did I mention I hate you for that?Just making sure.

  17. Enjoy your day. You should celebrate. It’s just as important, if not more so, to celebrate the living as well as remembering the dead. Happy 39th.

  18. Happy 39th! You are one awesome person, no matter what age. And 40? The best is yet to come, my dear!

  19. Happy Birthday… I just turned 38 and so far I haven’t needed to ask the kids to open the Geritol for me…

  20. 39 over there is looking better than 26 over here today. It was a rough night for the Mom over here!Happy Birthday!

  21. I’d say 39 is looking pretty damn good. I hope that my 31 (today is my birthday, too) looks as good. Considering that my 2 month old had me up 4 times last night (someone <> really <> needs to teach that kid about birthdays being special days) I’m fearful that 31 is looking a little tired and baggy today. Happy, happy birthday!

  22. OMG the loveliness! No, really? 39 and 89? AND A HALF? Gawd. I wish I looked half as gorgeous as the two of you.With best wishes on your birthday from faraway Lithuania,21

  23. Two of the Most Beautiful women at any age!!! Thank god I have some of those genes!!!xoxo – Love to you

  24. Happy Birthday!Maybe this will help….I have found, as have almost all of my female friends, that after 40, there is a sense of freedom that a woman never has before. Freedom to be who you want to be, to say whatever you want to say, to make choices that you never made before. Each year after forty gives more freedom! I have enjoyed the years since 40 more than any other period in my life. I worry less and enjoy more!So CELEBRATE!

  25. I only hope that, 4 years from now, I will look that good! Happy (mutual) Birthday!

  26. Honey, from someone who’s met you in real life… you don’t look 39! At all! (go ahead, wear that skirt)Happy Birthday!

  27. ok, so I thought of you today as I was flying across the country. First because it is 9/11, secondly because the lady sitting next to me it was her birthday as well. I didn’t even bother to state what a sucky day to have a b-day on. And I recalled your post from last year about your birthday being on Sept 11. May you have many more 39s to pick from and that I have to say is just a perfect age.

  28. Happy Birthday you ever so hot mama! You are a young’n at 39…. You are still the fastest walker I know!

  29. Happy belated birthday!If I look even half that good at 39 I’ll be happy. You’ve got some amazing genetics.

  30. THAT IS A GREAT PHOTO! LOVE IT!I’m telling you… if 89 looks like that, I’ll have what she’s having – NOW!Love you blog… and Happy Birthday!– AudreyPinks & Blues

  31. It’s a tough day to have a birthday, but it was yours first!Now that I’ve met you in person I am soooo not believing you are 39 until I see the birth certificate. No way. Not buying it!

  32. I’ve heard forty is the new eighteen and you’re not even there yet which would mean you’re about 12 by today’s standards. Congrats on being 12 and I hope to God I look that good at 89!

  33. Oh My God I am late in the good wishing thing. Thankfully you have a full 364 more days of it so HAPPY B-DAY Buddee 😉So glad to have found you and the day is made all the more special because it is yours!Amy

  34. Happy belated 39th birthday from a fellow 39 year old. (But, sadly, I’ll be hitting the big 4-0 in a couple of months. I’m grasping and clawing to hold on to my rapidly fleeting 30’s. Sigh.)

  35. Happy belated birthday. You look terrific at 39! Work that skirt! Hope Nate got a good evil eye from that comment.

  36. 39??? You look more like 29! Ole nate best be careful (chuckle). Oh ya.. miniskirts? Me. 41.. gramma (4 times over yet) and miniskirts a whoppin 2 inches above the knee.. just cuz I can 😀

  37. On the day you were born the skies opened and the godess said, “This child is your gift from the unicorns and the rainbows. This child will grow up to shed light on everyone she sees. This child….”

  38. I also meant to say, you are so super duper awesome for having a younger hubby.Mine’s older than yours, but I’m thinking their maturity level is prolly somewhat equal. Just substitute Guitar Hero for Halo, Burnout, and Tiger Woods Golf. Oy.

  39. Happy Birthday! I’m not too excited to be 37 either if you want to know the truth. But as the old folks say, getting older is better than the alternative.

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