Yesterday my husband turned 50. Now that’s a weird sentence to type. Probably, it’s even weirder to say out loud. Especially when you are the person who is actually turning 50.

However, I don’t think Adam felt funny about it at all. At least, he seemed to take the milestone year in surprising stride.

Even all my teasing didn’t rouse him.

The morning before his birthday, Sam pushed Aaron off our bed. Aaron said, “You threw my back out!”

I cracked up laughing and turned to Adam, “That’s what you get for having old parents.”

Adam threw his back out last month. And everyone in our house learned what that phrase meant.

He didn’t think it was as funny as I did.

We started with our usual celebration donuts and egg sandwiches. Adam opened up all the birthday cards that had been trickling in all week. Many had gift cards to his favorite places – Nordstroms and Fleet Feet. He also got a huge stack of gifts from me.Mostly I bought him much needed clothes and shoes.

New Sweater. It was so cold this summer solstice that Adam wore it around today.

He never spends money on himself. But with the gift cards and a rare day off sans kids, that afternoon we were able to go and find many things he needed.

Yesterday was also the last day of school for the twins and Jack. Both schools had field day celebrations which we visited. Then we stopped by RJ Grunts for a quick lunch. We even split a naughty shake. Yes, naughty at 50 is having a shake for lunch.

At lunch he reflected about how much he had to be grateful for. Great kids, a fulfilling career, and his wonderful wife made him feel like a very lucky 50 year old.

We went through the afternoon school pick up and bus deliveries, followed by the afternoon rush of settling back home.

Ben and I cooked up one of his favorite dinners, Thai Basil Chicken. I added a special Beef Red Curry too.We sung him happy birthday and shared his favorite dessert, Key Lime Pie.And for once, Adam had some down time to just hang out. Not much by anyone’s standards, but for Adam, sitting on the couch for 30 minutes is a pretty big deal.

When I was younger, 50 sounded really old. But now that we are all rounding the corner of this big number, I also feel very grateful for the way things have turned out. When I look around I see many of our contemporaries flaming out either of their own doing or through no control of their own. I also realize how truly blessed we are to have our health and our happiness. To have our kids who are healthy and mostly happy. And to have most of our parents still around, also healthy and happy.

And I feel very, very, very lucky to be married to such a modest, patient, hard working, kind, witty husband. Happy Birthday, Adam!