Tomorrow is my 65th birthday. WOW. 20’s is old when you are a teenager. 30’s was “over the hill” when you were in your twenties. 40’s and 50’s seemed decrepit in your thirties. 65 is OLD at any time, unless you are 65 – which I now find myself. Now my 87-year-old Mother, who we now take care of seems old. I’m sure there are days she now feels old, but now looks to a centenarian as being old. My three-and-a-half-year-old grandson considers himself “old” in comparison to his one-year-old younger brother. What I’m trying to say is that it is all relative. It is up to us to enjoy the uniqueness that each decade and milestone brings. Even though I may have lost my hair decades ago, along with my waistline and my knee is worn and creaky – I find myself in the best time of my life. I’m able to enjoy and appreciate things more. Experience (age) provides perspective. I LOVED my twenties, thirties, forties and fifties when I was in them. But I love and forever grateful to be typing this as my big day is upon me tomorrow. Yes, I was born on Bastille Day sixty-five years ago tomorrow. I am now signed up for Medicare – oh my! I could have never imagined, but it is now here. The time has come. I’m officially OLD!? Sixty-five used to be the “age of retirement.” Time for Social Security. Your life was over. Well, they have moved my social security date to sixty-six and nine months. Maybe that is now old? And life is certainly NOT over – yet. As I often like to say – “every day above ground is a good day.” So today and hopefuly tomorrow will be a good day.
I may now be sixty-five, but my pursuit of new firsts keeps me young. I’m working on possibly presenting my first TEDx speech. I’m hiking daily to possibly climb Mt. Kilimanjaro for the first time. I’ve started to write my second book – for the first time! AND tomorrow I will be 65 for THE First time in my life!!!!!