I recently had a milestone birthday. There is the ‘wow! you can have solid food’ (no, I don’t remember that one, but I’m sure I enjoyed it because I haven’t stopped enjoying solid food); the ‘now you are an adult’, the ‘now you can legally drink’ , and then the ones that start the decades.
This last birthday was the big five-o. Wow! where did all the years go? Before anyone starts reading more into this than there is, I am not sulking. It’s just a very small-scale ‘shock’ of sorts. I am now 50. I HAVE to act like an adult; even when I really do not want to.
During each of my birthdays I take an introspective look back at what I have achieved and learned so far, what lies ahead, and what I can possibly do to make the next day, week, month, year, or decade so much better and more memorable than the last one. Soon after my milestone birthday, I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary. And, shortly thereafter, the birthday of my first daughter, Katerina.
Our wedding was on the 28th of May in 1988. Katerina was due to be born almost exactly one year later, on the 29th of May. She decided to wait a couple more days, and didn’t join our party until the 31st.
So now that I’m 50, I’ve been married for 25 years, and have a 24-year-old daughter (who is about to graduate college – yea!), and a 20-year-old daughter. I consider myself lucky. I also cannot help but remember my mom and my dad, who kept reminding me that I would understand them and ‘wear their shoes’ when I had children of my own. And I do. Age and experience bring along knowledge and wisdom. They also bring along aches and pains from body parts that I didn’t know existed, worse vision (I may have to accept that I’ll have to wear progressives – gasp!), a (not-so) little spare tire around the mid-section, and yet more worries and gray hair.
In honor and celebration of my baby Katerina’s 24th birthday (yes, Katerina, you will always be considered a ‘baby’), I wish her the absolute best she could ever want. Good health, happiness, and ever-lasting joy.
Keep lighting every room you enter with your beautiful smile, and continue to smell the flowers. I love you!
westlakeramblings 