Well, I’ll be turning 40 in a few months, and I cannot wait!  I’ve had several people ask me if I am freaking out about turning the big 4-0, and I’ve given them a resounding, “Hell no!”  My life is going swimmingly and promises to just get better in the near future.  Besides that, I have a kickass party planned, so how could I be bummed?

Ever since adopting and actually following my “letting go” attitude, everything has been so peaceful and easy for me.  Roxy (my vintage ’63 convertible Mercury Comet) is getting fixed up, my book and stand up comedy show are flowing, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much I’m enjoying being back at school after a year and a half leave.

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to sub in several grade levels (3 last week alone), and I have been reminded of why I went into teaching in the first place.  I simply love working with kids.   I love captivating them by using an accent when I read a story and having them believe I actually am that character.  I love having them suddenly get what I’m teaching because out of nowhere I try a different approach that happens to make sense to them.  And I love having random parents come up to me on campus and ask, “Are you Mrs. Aubert?  You were in my son’s second grade class last week, and he loved you!”

On Wednesday, I overheard a first grader telling her friend as I walked to the staffroom at recess, “Ooh!  Lucky!  You have the best substitute today!”

I just smiled and thought, “Oh my God.  This is why I went into teaching.”

Trust me.  I’m completely surprised by this revelation.  And don’t get me wrong.  I am absolutely still following my writing and performance dreams with a vengeance.  But I am finding it quite easy to marry that passion with my passion for working with kids.

When I started my charity to keep the arts alive in schools, I had no idea that would mean me fighting to create a position in middle school drama to utilize my own charity.  I figured I would be running the charity and doling out money to schools that needed it.  But I now know that I want to be one of the drama departments asking for contributions!

I’m always looking for signs that validate where I am on my life’s journey.  Yesterday one showed up that couldn’t have been more obvious if it were flashing neon and had an arrow pointing right to me.

I was thinking about next year and what I’d be doing.  I had seen the superintendent of our schools at a little concert the kids gave on Thursday night and asked him if he’d received my intent to return letter.  He had, but said he couldn’t tell me anything about a specific position until later on.  No worries.  I just wanted to make sure the letter had been received.  But it got me thinking about my credential and wondering when I needed to renew it.

Um…it expires in October of this year.

I thought to myself, “Oh boy.  This may be a stumbling block,” because you have to have 150 hours to renew your credential.  Now, before I took my leave I made sure I had more than enough hours to renew, but it’s still a bit of a pain to get it all documented and signed off.  I figured if somehow it were really difficult to renew, maybe the Universe would be telling me something.

Anyhow, I called a girlfriend of mine just to chat and mentioned that I needed to renew my credential.  She said she had to renew hers this year, too.

But she went on to say that the state has updated the way you go about that, and it was all done online now.  I was thrilled!

When we hung up, I immediately got on line, punched in my social security number and birthday, and voila!  There I was.  Within moments I had verified all my info, paid the fee, and had a confirmation number in my hot little hands.

Professional clear credential officially renewed.

Definitely a sign that I am on the right path.

Another sign?  Right after that I opened my book Word document and cranked out several pages of writing.  It just flowed right out of my brain and into the keyboard.  It was easy.

I think that’s the key.  When things come easily, they are definitely meant to be.  If it’s a struggle and you’ve done everything you can to make it happen, you need to let go so it can unfold organically instead of being forced.  It’s taken me a long time to figure that out.  But when I just let go, it always works out in the way that it should, whether I understand it or not.

Back to the birthday.  I had been trying to book this particular venue for months now, and the woman just wouldn’t get back to me.  Finally I called the lead singer of the band I hired and asked if he had any suggestions.  He gave me the name of a place nearby, and the hubby, the kids and I checked it out.  I called the number, spoke with the girl in charge, and had the place booked within minutes.

Easy.

So, am I worried about turning 40 in a few months?  Not a chance.

Anytime I can celebrate a milestone with an 80s themed party complete with “Pretty in Pink” Cosmos and “Long Duk Dong” Lemondrops…I know I’m on the right path!

Written by Mel Aubert – find out more about Mel at  www.melaubert.com