Today I\u2019m 40.<\/p>\n
As a child, I remember very well the birthdays of my parents and their friends around this age.
\nBack then, they seemed like \u201cuncles and aunts,\u201d
\nswaying to the then-modern sounds of Ace of Base, music spilling from a cassette-driven \u201cmagic box.\u201d
\nI imagine that when they celebrated their 40, they felt as if they were on their \u201ctwenty-fifth,\u201d at most.<\/p>\n
So here I am today\u2014feeling just like that.
\nMy passport says 40.
\nBut my heart flutters almost half as fast.<\/p>\n
\u201cStrange?\u201d asks the inner voice.
\nCompared to what\u2026
\n20?
\nNo. Then I wouldn\u2019t have married the love of my life.
\n25?
\nNo. Then I wouldn\u2019t yet hold my heart-captain Do in my arms.
\n30?
\nNo. Then I wouldn\u2019t know the joy of having a little daughter.
\n35?
\nNo. Then I wouldn\u2019t have felt what it\u2019s like to hold all three of them close!
\n40?
\nYes. I have everything I dreamed of. I have the courage to be myself. I have a page of life full of written stories, and still plenty of blank space left.<\/p>\n
So, summing it all up,
\nI could probably be a contestant on a show called \u201cMy Passport Lies.\u201d
\nAnd I\u2019d be perfectly happy about it.<\/p>\n
The biggest pluses of life\u2014already neatly marked on the calendar.
\nI bloom, perhaps not as a fresh new flower,
\nbut just like the roses I grow\u2014my most beautiful blooms are never the buds,
\nbut the large, heavy petals barely fitting in my hands.
\nAll that\u2019s left is to stay in bloom as long as possible.<\/p>\n
A rose barely fitting in the palm,
\nturning 40,
\nHappy V.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-17814","istorija","type-istorija","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istorija\/17814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istorija"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/istorija"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viktorijos.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}