Am I "middle-aged"??
The Happy Birthday song is the most widely known and most often sung song in the world. It's sung in many different languages and one of the first songs we learn as children. And because everyone on the planet has a birthday, it's not a unique day, in general...but it's unique to you. Your birthday is YOURS. If you're blessed (like I am) with friends who are amazing, thoughtful and gifted at making other people feel special, you can even drag out your one day over a couple of weeks. (much to my husband's chagrin...)
So how can something so universal also be so personal? What expectations do we have and why do we have them? And what the heck is "middle-aged"??
Words In Action...Action In Words
This season in my life has been one of deep reflection, strategic thinking, assessment and re-assessment. In the spirit of New Year's Day, I often use my birthday as a benchmark to look back and look forward. (Oh...also to drink wine and eat cake!) On the day I am supposedly to be celebrated, have fun and relax, I find myself wanting to stop talking about all the things I'd like to do "if I had time" and just DO THEM.
I don't know what "middle-aged" means exactly, and from my informal research, no one really does. Some say it's 50 (if you expect to live to 100), some say it's younger than that (like 40-something), and some say it depends on how you feel. I have an image in my mind from when I was a kid of a "middle-aged woman" wearing a housedress and a frumpy haircut. (NOT that...please!!!!)
I've concluded the operative word is "middle." I'm not 26...and I'm not 86. I'm somewhere in between, with life behind me and life ahead of me (Lord willing).
Why Now?
So this year, coupled with a strange restructure of my daily schedule a la global pandemic, I decided to start a blog. It's really for me to stretch my writing wings and fulfill a nagging little dream in the back of my mind (would I be a good blogger? does what I have to say matter? have I missed the blogging boat??). Mostly, it's just to have a place to empty out my rambling brain. If I discover some like-minded "middle-aged" women along the way, or bless someone else the way others have blessed me, well, that would be the icing on the birthday cake.