Things to Do Before I'm 40

Recently I went for my annual OB/GYN exam. When the doctor entered the room, she looked at me skeptically and asked, "How old are you?"

"Thirty-nine," I replied, sighing. I knew where this was going.

"Next year, you get a mammogram," she replied sternly, staring me down as though I had turned 39 with the sole purpose of avoiding a breast exam.

When I got home that afternoon, I felt uneasy. It was time to admit I was quickly heading down the road to my forties, which, to my thirty-something ears, sounded positively middle-aged. What had happened to my youth? My twenties were a blur of dimly lit bars and taxicabs; my thirties a haze of babies and diapers. Where had the time gone?

And then it hit me: I was running out of time to do things young people do. Not only am I a mom, but soon I'll be a forty-something mom, whose first-grade daughter knows more about the music scene than I do. And so, I decided to be proactive. I constructed a bucket list of things to accomplish ASAP -- before I hit that magical age of ma'ams and mammograms.

1. Shop in the Junior department. Or, better yet, Wet Seal or Charlotte Russe. OK, so most days I don't make it out of the sweats my toddler smeared his yogurt on. But I'm thinking I better buy some fringed lace crop tops and gladiator sandals while I still can. After all, no one wants to see a soccer mom in a romper, do they?

2. Friend my teenage relatives on Facebook. At the moment, I'm still the "cool aunt" in her thirties (or so I tell myself). I'm running out of time before my nieces and nephews start ignoring my friend requests... or before they trade Facebook for a social media platform that monitors their brain waves and transmits their every thought to the Internet. While I'm at it, I should probably use this remaining time to figure out what Snapchat is, start using emojis, and drop "YASSSSSSSS" randomly into conversations.

3. Go to Coachella. OK, I don't entirely understand what Coachella is, and the only performer I recognize from this year's lineup is Guns n' Roses. But I'm thinking the sight of a forty-something mom wandering around the desert, trying to spot Katy Perry or Jared Leto through the maze of bindis and flower crowns, might seem a bit jarring. So, it's off to California! Wait, the festival goes past midnight? Never mind.

4. Listen to Justin Bieber non-ironically. I've never actually listened to an entire Justin Bieber song, rejecting him out of principle, but maybe it's time to start -- before I have to blame his presence on my car radio on my daughter.

5. Run a marathon. I'll admit it: lately, when my kids want me to hang out on the floor with them, it's getting harder to get back up. If I'm going to get in shape, now's the time. But maybe running a marathon is expecting too much. Instead, I'll settle for watching a marathon -- of Grey's Anatomy while running on the treadmill. People are right: those last (and, in my case, only) few miles really are tough.

6. Read The Feminine Mystique. So I can finally stop pretending I've read it.

7. Make more time for my kids. Because the bittersweet fact is that, while I'm getting older, so are they. My daughter is turning seven soon, and before I know it, she'll be dragging me to Justice, ditching family pizza night, and coming to the harsh realization that not every mother-daughter duo rocks out to AC/DC in the car. Life can get pretty busy, between work deadlines, errands, laundry... the list goes on and on. But when it comes to these precious years, when all my kids want is Mommy, time really is running out. And I intend to make the most of it.

There you have it, my to-do list for the final months before I turn 40. I may not accomplish all (or any) of these things, but I feel pretty confident that I'll be entering this next phase of my life with a youthful spirit and the maturity that comes with a little extra time on this planet. And, just maybe, a fringed crop top that I can bust out whenever I want to embarrass my kids. Yassss!

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from Dog Blog http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/4e1fd9da/sc/13/l/0L0Shuffingtonpost0N0Cmeredith0Ehale0Cthings0Eto0Edo0Ebefore0Eim0E40A0Ib0I940A55840Bhtml/story01.htm