Turning 40 Is Fabulous

By Jacqueline J. Bachra

You’ll find this book an easy transition into your 40s (or any age) with an added comedic twist. You may be standing somewhere right now, questioning, “Is this actually happening to me?” Let me reassure you now, you’re not alone. This well-kept secret of change that women experience is no longer a secret that you feel you need to keep private. Let’s start sharing and, hopefully, this book will encourage future discussion. I was fortunate to have my grandma in my life while growing up. As I reminisced about my childhood, I never witnessed my grandma fanning herself from a hot flash and then immediately being cold. I brought this memory up with my mom and her response came as a shock: “Why do you think the back door was always open?” My inside voice answered, “She was waiting for me.” I guess I was wrong. Some of the experiences in this book may be real, while others just imagined. I can’t remember which experiences are true and which are just imagined (brain fog, anyone?). These experiences have brought the self-proclaimed comedian out of me, which has turned my “midlife” (how did that happen?) into a humorous yet comforting journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781645755777

Jacqueline J. Bachra

The author, Jacqueline J. Bachra, is a humorous, loving, and caring person that makes friends everywhere life takes her. She can turn almost any situation around and make it positive, which prompted her to write this book. Her desire to make a difference in this world became paramount when she turned 40ish; she can’t remember (brain fog) the specific time frame. She doesn’t know the word “no” and she will take the shirt off her back if someone needed it. She’s an inspiration to anyone who has a dream and felt it was too late. In her words, “As long as I have a pulse, I will dream.” She hopes this inspires others to follow their dreams.

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Conclusion

About the Author

The author, Jacqueline J. Bachra, is a humorous, loving, and caring person that makes friends everywhere life takes her. She can turn almost any situation around and make it positive, which prompted her to write this book. Her desire to make a difference in this world became paramount when she turned 40ish; she can’t remember (brain fog) the specific time frame. She doesn’t know the word no and she will take the shirt off her back if someone needed it. She’s an inspiration to anyone who has a dream and felt it was too late. In her words, As long as I have a pulse, I will dream. She hopes this inspires others to follow their dreams.

Dedication

I dedicate my book to my husband, Sam Bachra, for encouraging me to fix the world in the Jacqueline way. He supports my sense of humor, especially when I start to tell a joke and can’t make it to the punch line because I’m laughing. Thank you to my children, Candice and Sheldon, who through their strength gave me the courage to follow my dream once again.

Copyright Information ©

Jacqueline J. Bachra (2021)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Bachra, Jacqueline J.

Turning 40 Is Fabulous

ISBN 9781645755753 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781645755760 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781645755777 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021900451

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

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Acknowledgment

I wish to acknowledge and sincerely thank all my friends and family who said, You’re funny; keep writing, we know you can do this, especially when the negative self-talk would sneak into my thoughts. To my supportive coworkers who became my BFFs and said, Keep writing, you have a gift. To my new supervisor, Leslie Quintia, whom I told while we were sharing each other’s favorite pastime that I’ve been writing this book for a while and she said, Just finish it! So, I did just that. To all of my family and friends who have supported me through this journey of finding my calling: here we go!

Introduction

As the New Year approached, I started wishing that this year, I would discover my gift. While watching the news, the last segment honored people turning one hundred. I started thinking, to live to that prosperous age of one hundred you had to be born in 1918. The stories they could share without T.V.s. The only form of communication back then were radios…which now you’d call podcasting full circle time for some people. Back then, a radio was the only form of communication if you were rich enough to afford to buy one as cash was the only currency, and credit cards weren’t invented yet. There were no televisions invented yet and now we can YouTube almost anything and at any time. The television was invented in 1927 and started out black and white. I remember the first time I watched a color T.V., I was four years old visiting my grandparents. It’s amazing how you can quickly go back in time and remember certain events. Those T.V.s had two dials, one for on, off, and volume, the second one to change channels. The remote was first invented in 1950 and that was the start of many remotes to be born, revised, and made smaller. Our first remote weighed at least five pounds and had a lot of buttons to help navigate your T.V. I was surprised to learn that I am from the baby-boomer generation, which means we were all born between 1946 and 1964. Being named after Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, I wanted to make a difference, but the question always was how. I tried a few different adventures in my life as you’ll read further on in my book. Now that I look back at my younger self, I remembered that reading and writing were my biggest joys. I remember for Christmas, one year, my parents bought me a package of notebooks where the pages were half blank and half lined, I was so excited. No dolls or cooking toys for me, funny, I still don’t enjoy using pots and pans, and cooking is not one of my passions; the younger me was insightful. If I can’t cook it within my three-step process, I’m not going to bother cooking, baking, or boiling as there’s a strong possibility I’ll burn the food. I digress, I could not wait to start writing stories and drawing. I was in grade three at the time and I remember sitting at one of our dinner trays and writing stories for hours. The image is as clear as my memory of yesterday. If you’re looking for what satisfies your soul, try to remember your joy when you were young, you’d be surprised of what you can remember; look at my example: I was eight years old. Since turning fortyish, my passion for writing and making people laugh, including myself, is like a seed germinating. I think I’m hilarious after a few glasses of wine. I often threatened my husband that I was going to quit my day job, hit the road, and become a famous comedian. His response then and now, I will support you if you can get through the joke and make it to the punch line without laughing yourself first.

Everyone’s a critic.

What’s the fun in that? I know the punch line and it’s funny and I can’t help myself. I proclaimed myself as a work-in-progress comedian. I asked a few friends and family what they thought I was gifted at and what seemed to make my heart sing. It can be difficult to self-identity sometimes. The answer time and time again was that you have a ‘knack’ for making people feel better about whatever their situation is with humor. Question now, moving forward, What can I do with that? I was standing in the doorway at work looking confused because I forgot why I came to this particular door.

When a coworker coming the opposite direction asked me, Are you coming or going?

I replied, I can’t remember.

She laughed and responded, That happens to me all the time.

I replied, "I’ll try walking backward to my desk until