Today is the day! I turn 40 and it’s my 40th day of writing! There is no better place that I could be spending my birthday than the farm in Virginia. Ten years ago Kevin brought me here for my 30th birthday and we have been coming every year since then.

I was in a much different head space. I measure life by milestones and I felt like I was very behind going into my 30th year. I was married and had a job I loved but both of my parents were dead, I couldn’t get my body to carry a baby full-term and Kevin was still not on board with the idea of adoption. So going I was depressed about turning 30. I wanted to be living a different life. I was pretty miserable.

The first year at the farm was magical. Kevin took a week off of work and took me to Goochland, Virginia. We toured wineries and went to Charlottesville. We went ate at Miller’s the place where Dave Matthews Band got their start and helped around the farm with different chores. It was peaceful and Aunt Sue had us eating like royalty. On my birthday I wanted to stay in bed but Kevin took me to Farmville, Virginia because he wanted to take pictures of signs that said Farmville. We were all really into playing Farmville at the time. I went along. We had lunch on the river and had the best piece of chocolate cake for dessert. I had dreaded turning 30 but Kevin, Aunt Sue and Uncle Paul made it way better.

Things have changed a lot over the years but my love for the farm grows deeper each year. We come back each year the week of Thanksgiving. The first year was just Kevin and me, but our Farmsgiving family has grown quite a bit. The next year we added our friends Dave and Sara, they added their daughter. A few years later Kevin’s sister and brother-in-law, Jamie and Scott, started to come. We have added our two boys. Last year Daniel and Crista moved to Goochland, so our numbers have grown to 13.

Sometimes we help with farm chores, sometimes we go to a brewery, last year everyone got sick and we took the kids to a movie. This year we got to visit a miniature pony and two miniature donkeys at a local farm. The kids got to brush and feed them.

Food is a huge part of farm life. Everyone is on their own for breakfast and lunch, although Jamie usually makes us all bacon in the morning. (We have nicknamed her Aunt Bacon.) For dinner we take turns cooking. In the past each couple hosts a night, but this year we broke up into teams and had to create a meal with a certain theme. Night 1 was Italian, night 2 was Grandma Night (things your grandma would make), and night 3 was Taco Truck night. We also do an all appetizer night. We’ve done a make your own pizza night and breakfast nachos in the past. It is so yummy!

Because our trip to the farm is always near my birthday it is a good time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the year to come. The last day on the farm before I turned 34 I prayed, “Lord, please make this a year of firsts for me. Please let me be a mom before I come to the farm again.” The next year I brought my 3-month-old baby boy with us and got to experience the farm in a new way.

I also got to experience the farm in a different way when I was in grad school. I had four intensives that had to be completed on campus two hours from the farm. Each course had pre-work to complete, so I would save it all, drive to the farm and do all the work the week before the intensive. It was so fun getting to do school work during the day and spend time discussing what I’d learned with Sue and Paul over a late dinner. They challenged me, encouraged me and breathed new life into me. I am forever grateful for those pre-class times.

I’m so thankful for all the times I’ve had at the farm. I’m thankful that I have a beautiful place to come with wonderful people who enjoy being together. It tickles me that I this “indoor girl” loves coming to such an “outdoor place”, but there is no other place I’d rather come, year after year, to celebrate another year of life! Thank you Paul and Sue for being such a gracious hosts and being so good to my family. I love you!