Aging

Aging is a funny thing, really. When we are children, we have to add that "half" year in there or say our children are X months old. Then we make a big deal of them hitting double digit ages. Adolescence and the tweens arrive and then we don't understand each other. The children think their parents are from Mars, and we think they are from Jupiter. They yearn so much to be older—to reach 16 to learn to drive; 18 to be considered an adult; 19 to be able to drink; 21 and 25. They don't realize then how much those years are the best ones of their life. And oh those years go by so quickly. The older we get, the faster those years go as well.

When I was in my 20s, I was married and having children. When I look back now, I was a child having children, although in that era, that was the norm. People now are having children at a much later age. I'm not sure how they have the stamina for it, though, once they hit 35+. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have. Sometimes I thought I would die of exhaustion from it all and I was so much younger than they. Those years were very busy ones in my life. I also discovered that my parents knew something after all, and often called upon them for advice.

In my 30s, life became different as my children grew and aged. I discovered that the older my children got, the more I enjoyed them. There is just something about being able to have a sensible conversation with someone and being able to communicate your wants and needs. Guessing what those needs are is just not my thing, I have learned. I like clear communication. I also learned that my parents knew a lot, but that my knowledge was catching up to them and surpassing them in some areas of life.

Turning 40 was a horrible day in my life. I h a mid-life crisis, wondering where I was in my life and where I was going. Then shortly thereafter, I began life over again as a single woman. That was not without its challenges either. One income, supporting children, and trying to find out who I was as a person. A lot of personal growth has occurred for me during these years. I'm a late bloomer, I am told, but better late than never. I think I was too busy raising children, being a wife, and working full time to even know that life existed around me when I was younger.

I became a sandwich kid in those years, helping care for aging parents as well as being a parent to my own children. When I was 46, I became an orphan. That is a very strange feeling, even at that age. Until you experience it, it is difficult to describe. For as much as these years presented me with challenges, they brought me many blessings as well. The knowledge I have obtained about myself and life in general is a great gift, and one I will carry with me and continue to develop.

In four days' time, I will leave the old age of my youth and enter into the youth of my old age. The golden years they call it. I remember when 50 seemed ancient. When people who were this age actually looked old. When 50 was considered senior for discounts at the stores. It is indeed half a century. What an accomplishment to make it this far. I thank my creator for giving me this much time on Earth, and ask for this many more and good health and a great love to enjoy it with. I am throwing a party for myself. I want to be surrounded by my friends and family to celebrate this milestone. I can't wait to have fun and to feel the love!

Maybe aging, in spite of the physical declines, isn't so bad after all.

Enjoying the Ride

Well, they say life is a rollercoaster. Sometimes that is true. Every life has its ups and downs, its challenges and its triumphs. We sometimes needs those downs to truly appreciate the ups. But in spite of it all, it is the journey that we are meant to enjoy most.

How easy it is to forget to appreciate life and live it to its fullest when we focus too intently on what is wrong. We give it too much power over our lives, and we forget to live. I've been guilty of this a lot in my life, and am now focusing on what is right, what is good, what is grand, and what is totally awesome!!! What a whole new world it is that opens up to us when we let go and dump out our garbage.

My life is transforming in ways I never thought possible, and in directions I never expected to take. I have a smile on my face when I wake in the morning that is still there when I go to bed. THIS is what life is supposed to be like, and I am truly enjoying the ride!!!!