60...the new 50? Nah...60 is really 60!

Just a few days ago I celebrated my 60th birthday! YIKES! That just sounds so stinkin' old. But I feel just the same as I did the day before...and the day before that. I have lived on this planet earth for 60 years. So clearly, it provoked pondering. 

My teen years were like everyones I presume. Uncertain, unclear...child turning into a woman years when everything feels topsy turvy. Toward the end of those years you find yourself making life shaping decisions and mistakes. Check that decade off...believe I will pass on a re-do. What was done was done...



The twenties! Oh, Lord have mercy...so much excitement. This is the decision/deciding/decided years. What will I do? Where will I go? Who will I marry? Will I marry?  College graduation...sign a contract...move to Hamlin, Texas...share a duplex with a 72 year old woman (can you hear the thrill there?). Proposal...acceptance...wedding...moving once again. New town with a new husband...and a new job. Then...three babies in five years. Whew...



The thirties! I don't really remember the thirties. Well, kinda/sort of...but just glimpses. We were mostly exhausted and broke. Episodes of Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street...baby ducks in the backyard. Hospital stays...and more hospitals stays. Lots of tears, fears, and did I mention we were tired and broke. No...think we can move on...


The forties! Fun forties...healthy kiddos. Watching kiddos move from the goofy years when they are awkward and not really that cute anymore. Teeth too big for their faces...then suddenly grown into themselves...emerging handsome and stunningly beautiful. Life is a blur...coordinating calendars and events, graduations, college dorms, moving...lots of moving. Softball, boy scouts, cheerleading, band...boys...driving...lots of praying. Sigh...

The fifties...a mixture of complete joy and broken hearts. We gained and we lost. The loss of one parent before she died...completely lost to the fog of the cruel disease that robs you of your mind before it takes your body. Loss of another parent due to cancer that creeps in like a thief and steals those you love best...followed quickly by yet another loss of a parent...just passing over after celebrating 92nd birthday.  It is life...but life hurts. Three weddings brought three new faces to the clan. Then in the blink of an eye...we watched as the next generation filled up those empty spaces. Six little grands...The fifties were marked by celebrations...graduations, weddings, funerals, births.

So...here I am...60. It seems peaceful here...wiser, stronger, and truly at peace. Possessions, power, or position don't mean so much anymore. People mean more...really they always did. I would do a few things differently...but not too many. Certainly there is less ahead than behind...but praying for good health, good friends, lots of laughter...and Godly grandchildren. Sixty is just fine. I think I like it. I don't think I really have a choice!