If I had borne children, I’m pretty sure I would have been one of those neurotic women who would have felt like I was THE ONLY ONE who had ever given birth to a human being.  I’m petty sure I would have felt that way because that’s how I feel about turning fifty in two weeks!

I’m blessed with good genes.  As I reflect on the body I was given I note with gratitude that I am able to do things like begin jogging again for the first time in over a year by jogging three miles the first day.  I jogged three miles on Tuesday and  also on Thursday and then Friday took a three hour nap and still was able to sleep solidly for ten hours that evening! Even so, nothing is the worst for wear.  I decided months ago that one of the ways that I would like to celebrate being a half century old (as old as a mature tortoise….) is by giving to others.
None of the black banners and balloons for me thanks very much.  I figure that by the time we reach fifty, we’ve survived and thrived in a variety of ways.  Why not enjoy the rest of our journey instead of fighting it?  Now when I see someone, say 20-25 years older than me (my parents’ age….) I look at them through new lenses.  They’ve survived all kinds of things (including having born and raised children like myself….) least of which is the impending recession and the increase of gas and milk prices.  They’ve also recognized the joy and goodness along the way. 

Probably because I have no kids to embarrass, and my parents would expect no less of me, I am free to celebrate in true “Lynn” fashion.  On Friday, March 28, 2008, a group of us are going to meet at the stop light that crosses Sixth Street (downtown Austin) between GSD&M Advertising and the Whole Foods Headquarters and we’re going to hand out flowers, and chocolates and epistles and just about anything (legal) that we can to inspire joy and happiness in others.  We’ll do this for an hour or until our goodies run out and then gather afterwards for dinner and to talk about our experiences. 

Trust me when I tell you that I don’t see myself as a dear sweet grandmother handing out sweets. I see myself as a self-realized, hilarious, sexy woman laughing in the face of the big bad dragon that says getting older is this gross sucky thing that we all have to go through and hide.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve always had it in me to do something like this (used to fantasize about getting a group of people onto a flat car on a train where we could dance to good music as the train rolls through the center of rush hour traffic), but I was never secure enough in who I was—to step out there and be really different. No matter what others’ say.  Now I’m grown up enough that I realize that celebrating life like this is something I was born with and I’m willing to share it—damn the opinions!

I will be the mole on the inside of the elders’ circle who will let everyone know what it’s really like to be entering my wise woman years.  I suspect that there are many of us entering into these circles now who are very different from our elders of the past.  We have friends in all age groups.  We create, we remember, we dance, we love, we sing.  We have the gift of joy that our parents and grandparents before us have passed down to us.  And where our relatives did not contribute to our joy, we have earned it ourselves by our own ability to discover and learn what life holds for us.

No, I’m not buying the “over the hill” ideas.  I’m looking forward to the baby boomers, who dropped out in the sixties and then bought into the seventies, to wake-up and want to explore again now.  I believe there are people coming up through the ranks in their 20’s and 30’s who will totally “get” those of us in our 50’s and 60’s and I’m looking forward to what we can and will create and discover together! 

And so this is Fifty!! Not bad, not bad at all…..