Happy Birthday to Me!!

Hi!!  ::tap:: ::tap::: ::tap::  Is this thing on?

Today is my 50th birthday.  That in itself is an amazing accomplishment.  I look back on my life and wonder how I managed to make it this far. After all I grew up in a time when cars didn't have seat belts, we didn't wear bike helmets, and ritalin wasn't readily prescribed.  So, I'm thinkin' it's been by a sheer miracle!  But the truth of it is probably because I had a wonderful mother and grandparents who helped point me in the right direction.  I have fantastic friends who have seen me through the good, the bad and the ugly (and not necessarily in that order).  I share life with a guy I absolutely adore.  I have a career that has never stopped being fun for me (even after 27 years).  So maybe it is luck and I am one of the luckiest people on the planet.

But seriously, 50??  That's a half century!!!!  My mortgage will probably outlast me.  And, oh yeah, I got the AARP membership app in the mail last week - very funny. Ugh!!!  Someone recently told me that 50 is the new 30.  hhhmmm  that has some appeal.  I always considered my 30s to be the best because by then I knew who I was, what I wanted, i was responsible and grounded. So if I could just maintain that it won't be so bad. 

I also keep hearing that it's certainly better than the alterrnative.  Since there is only one alternative that I know of - that's probably right.  Afterall, it could be worse - I could be a teenager again! Therefore, I won't cry, I won't whine, I won't go back to bed and refuse to get up.  But I do, however, refuse to just embrace it without a fight.  I will hide the gray hair (I forget what color my hair is supposed to be anyway), I will fight the wrinkles, and I will buy only cute reading glasses.  I will face this 50 thing with as much courage and grace as I can muster. 

If all else fails there is comfort in knowing that Geritol has a high alcohol content.