Sunday, August 14, 2016

I'm too old for this... or not!

I turned 39 last weekend. I joked that it would be the first of several 39th birthdays, but the truth is, I'm okay with coming to the end of my 30s. It was a good decade and I learned a ton about myself, other people, the world, and my place in it.




Between August 8, 2007 and this very day, I have taken on new challenges, some I sought out, others quite unexpected. I'm happy to report that I'm not completely broken yet and I'm getting better at adulting all the time.

But 39.

I ask, am I now middle-aged? I mean, I'm not exactly approaching my twilight years. The shadows aren't really getting longer.

Wikipedia says mid-life starts around 45. Fine. Then I'm in the early stages.

It's been a couple of years since I started pushing reading materials further away to better see the words. Also, I've been making lists to make up for my terrible memory since my 20s, so that's no real indicator.

Maybe it's a mindset. I toy with ideas of major career changes and other youthful flights of fancy that perhaps I'm simply getting to old to indulge.

Then I think, NO WAY! 39 isn't just the new 29, it's the new 19, minus the teenage insecurities. Plus, I can legally order a cocktail.

I ask, why can't I make the changes I want to make? Why can't I write books. climb mountains, travel the country in a bright orange VW van, take up two new languages, learn to surf, build a tiny house, live in at least five more cities from coast to coast?

Why can't I act and feel as young and carefree as I want to?

The answer: I CAN! There is nothing stopping me and every year just gets better!

August 1982 (when I was a natural blonde and clearly into Strawberry Shortcake)

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