Nifty Fifty

The summer is waning, school has started and the geese flying overhead remind me that fall is around the corner. Time to wax philosophical. For several years, the Big Five-O has been out on the horizon. For me it became a goal, a completion date for all the things on “The List” –and a date to take my pulse and make sure that I was still in “proper working order.” Thanks to my husband and children, it was also a wonderful day to celebrate all those things that I hold dear-- family, friends, faith, home, food, (it was amazing) and books (looking forward to my new Kindle and diving into the stack I brought home from Barnes and Noble yesterday). I fell asleep counting my blessings for my wonderful life.

I remember turning forty and doing a thorough assessment of where I was in life and what I had learned so far. Fifty has been different. I think because it involves so many more physical changes and frankly, it takes too much energy to “thoroughly assess” things these days! What I noticed most about turning fifty is that it is a time of “softening.” The body begins to “soften,” (thank goodness for Spanx), the might begins to “soften” (that is why the youngest children always get by with more than the oldest), but most importantly the heart and soul soften. People are more important than things, little things don’t matter quite as much and you cut both yourself and others a lot more slack. Ironically, as your eyes go out of focus, life becomes clearer. I like being able to laugh at the absurdities of life, to enjoy the grandkids without feeling responsible for molding them into “responsible citizens,” and sitting with my soulmate comfortable in the knowledge that we love each other just the way we are. It has been an incredible life so far; I see today as the ‘halfway” point and look forward to beginning Act II.

P.S. To any loyal readers, I have to regulate my comments because for some reason I have become so popular in China that I simply cannot control my fans there any longer—please do not believe for one moment I will be “censoring” any of you however.