Harry:  Why don’t you tell me the story of your life.

Sally:  The story of my life?

Harry:  We’ve got eighteen hours to kill before we hit New York.

Sally:  The story of my life isn’t even going to get us out of Chicago.  Nothing’s happened to me yet.  That’s why I’m going to New York.

Harry:  So something can happen to you?

Sally:  Yes.

Harry:  Like what?

Sally:  Like I’m going to journalism school to become a reporter.

Harry:  So you can write about things that happen to other people.

Sally:  That’s one way to look at it.

Harry:  Suppose nothing happens to you.  Suppose you live out your whole life, and you never meet anybody, you never become anything, and finally you die one of those New York deaths, where nobody notices for two weeks until the smell drifts into the hallway.

Sally:  Amanda mentioned you had a dark side.

Harry:  That’s what drew her to me…

~from When Harry Met Sally, one of my favorite movies of all time.

When I first saw that the theme for May 1st was “Your Life Story” (from the Blog Every Day in May challenge by The Story of My Life) , I immediately thought of this quote.  It kind of IS the story of my life:  My brain thinks in movie quotes.  Always.  And also because I can relate to the “nothing’s happened to me yet” sentiment.  But not in a bad way!  In the absolute best kind of way.

In eight months, I’ll turn 40.  I’m actually really excited about that.  I see all those “boo-hoo I’m turning 30 (or 40 or 50 or whatever)” posts, and I don’t get it.  My 30’s were far better than my 20’s, which were far better than my teens.  My teenage years were filled with angst.  In my twenties, I was a newlywed, broke and confused and sort of floundering through life.  I “found” myself in my 30’s.  I also found self-respect and self-confidence.  I found my voice.  I found ME.  I have absolutely no reason to believe that my 40’s aren’t going to be even better.

My childhood?  It was …  fine.  Lovely even.  Lots of fun.  Lots of happy memories.  A close, all-American family in New England; a (mostly) good experience in school; plenty of friends and pets and play.  But my life story?  My favorite part of the story is NOW.  Today.  This moment.

In the words of Natasha Bedingfield, “The rest is still unwritten.”