Caroline's 40th Birthday!

It just so happened that my 40^th Birthday coincided with our departure, and in actuality I do not think it was a coincidence at all. It just seemed right, for my adult life has always been, in some way, pursuing adventure and new experiences. In celebration of my 40^th, an age that takes you from young-adult to adult, it seems only natural that I am about to embark on a journey that utilizes all my past experiences only to lead me to new ones.

Certainly my friends and my best friend (and husband) Keith, made sure that the transition into my 40's would be anything but mundane and left me no space for regrets. My dearest Geri decided to fly me spinning into the sky on a WWII 1941 Bi-Plane! With Geri at my side, and thankfully a qualified pilot in the back, we both screamed all the way up into the sky, until an irresistible calm settled over us as we took in the magnificent view of our tiny island home. I felt I could now officially grab 40 and embrace the new decade with grace.

Simone could not let me enter a new decade without a calming and exfoliating facial. It was luxurious, cleansing not only my pores, but cleansing my mind of clutter and worry as I sat back and relaxed. After my first ever facial, Simone and Nancy 3, beaming from ear to ear sped me off to a lunch with the chickens at Blue Heaven. I was Queen for a day!

The excitement never ended. My darling husband, under the guise of a casual dinner with friends, had planned a Birthday Party for me, with Balloons, streamers, Cake (of course made by the best cake baker on the island Geri LaGotta), and the cliché, 'SURPRISE' greeting, as all my dearest friends cheer and laugh at your stunned face, as you quickly try to gather your wits. Too much food, incredible cake, Nancy 3 played the accordion, we danced and tried to sing and I looked around the room at all the wonderful people, all of them just as crazy, if not more, as me, and I felt truly blessed.

It would seem too real if the Birthday stopped here. It did not. Keith planned a surprise trip up to Miami with friends Simone, Charlie, Geri and Joe. Being the adult I had now become, we rented a hotel room at the only B&B in Miami, instead of a shared suite at the youth hostel. Apparently the Inn had just been the site for shooting part of a film with Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. Keith and I were apparently sleeping in the room that was Jenn and Owens room in the flick. Our brush with fame! The six of us dressed to the nines in our Key West finest and headed to Sheeba, an Ethiopian restaurant that I had been dying to visit. Keith ordered traditional seating so we sat on little wooden African stools placed around large basket-woven tables and dug into dish after delicious dish with our hands. It was a feast fit for a King!

Exhausted, exhilarated and 40, I barely had the energy left to prepare the boat for departure. Although still reeling from my week long Birthday celebration, I am energized by all the love and friendship that surrounds me. If ever asked what I would of liked to of accomplished by the time I hit 40, I would simply answer 'I have' I have reached adulthood wealthy with friends and love.