How did I get to be forty?

Things on my mind that begin with letter F:

1. fairs: country, book
2. fairies: flower and forest
3. faith: I have yet to witness the one that can move a mountain
4. flowers: arrangements of lilies, orchids and roses in weddings
5. forests: the ones in Sintra, Portugal. I read they are magical
6. friends: I appreciate those I heard from in Facebook on August 30th
7. forty: crap! how did I get to be that?
8. food: I went restaurant-hopping during my birthday - hors d' oeuvre at Vie Ha Lung, main course at It's Happened to be a Coffee Shop (if there is a next time I will analyze that "Satanic Majesty" on their menu before ordering their mediocre lamb steak in red wine sauce), dessert at Sweet Secret, and cocktails at The Landmark
9.  farms: upon my word, farms! the charming places that they are.
10. fairy tales: I have never stopped believing in them. At least not yet. Or maybe I never will.
11. fig: there is a sacred fig near the spirit house at work. Next to it is a pond inhabited by a somersaulting fish, lotuses whose budding leaves look like fairy boots, and an exasperating frog that goes ko-kak before it even 'looks rain'
12. fast internet: may it never halt
13. freedom: what else beats that?

Megan and Janet host Thursday Thirteen