Sometimes the ideas just pop into your head!

For most of the last 200+ days, I have been struggling with goal #21 (celebrating my 40th birthday) trying to come up with something fun and meaningful that acknowledged rather than avoided the fact that it would be a special day for me.  And, as the days have ticked by, I've worried a bit that I wasn't going to come up with anything that really stood out for me.  My friends have been trying to help with suggestions ...

• two separate offers to throw me a party ... very nice, but not really what I wanted
• maybe I should try jumping out of an airplane ... this is SO NOT ME!!!
• taking a trip ... great fun, but the timing isn't quite right with some other things happening in my life.  Plus, I usually do at least a day trip for my birthday - mostly to avoid dealing with it - so, I would feel like I was playing ostrich yet again.
• invite friends over to hang out for the day ... ummm, I really don't want to include house-cleaning in the birthday plans and many of my friends would need to be at work since it's a weekday.
• perhaps I should wait and someone would throw me a surprise party ... or maybe they wouldn't and then I'd be scrambling for something special to do. And, I've already had a surprise birthday party thrown for me (when I was 18).

I did have a few things decided:  I didn't want to clean my house, I wanted to celebrate ON my birthday rather than an adjacent weekend, I wanted to have some control over who I celebrated with, I wanted to do something "different", etc. 

Then, a few days ago on my morning walk, a glorious idea popped into my head - a LARP event!  (To all of you who don't know that term, it stands for Live Action Role Playing).  I've done murder mystery dinners before (with a fabulous time had by all), and I've always wanted to write one of my own on a large scale.  This is the perfect opportunity for me to plot and plan - two things I enjoy - and then share the fun with friends.  I've already decided that I can play the role of a bartender (and not so coincidentally work on my goal #34).  I'm hoping that many of my invitees will be able to attend despite the midweek date - the guest list has already hit 100 - so I can work in lots of subplots.  I was thrilled that my niece immediately agreed to take on a key role despite the 6 hour drive; she will be justly rewarded with the leftovers from the cheesecake dessert buffet.  In short, it's the perfect idea for me, and I look forward to reporting later how it all turns out.