49

Tomorrow is my birthday. I turn 49. Each year I am more grateful than the last for another day, another month, and another birthday. My mom passed away far too early so I have long thought of aging as a blessing. I hope my kids will get to enjoy me wild and wrinkled for decades to come. But aging is definitely a process and coping with the tolls of time is not always easy. For a few years now I have been in denial about my vision. It has been time for readers for a while and only recently did I make peace with the fact that I do need them to see the fine print. To my good fortune we happened across the most adorable fashion forward readers for $1 at a thrift shop (think monacle but an actual tiny pair of readers). They were so great that I decided this was my way forward, wear these lovely readers like a piece of fashion jewelry. You may not know this but my love for costume jewelry is real. Somehow making my vision decline about accessorizing made it all alright. So the next day I take my daughter, now 13 and a natural beauty, out shopping and I proudly adorn myself with my new found reader necklace. We get in line at the first store and the cashier says, “I just love those, are they readers?” I was so pleased. Later we went out to eat and the waiter asked the same and offered me a compliment. Aging feels amazing. Well my joints don’t really feel amazing but my spirit is high. Goat milk lotion helps, lol. Since the cute reader discovery put me into such a great mindset I decided to take it a step further. When we came home that night I went to my drawer, pulled out my favorite skinny jeans (the ones I haven’t worn for a few years now) and gave them to my daughter. She proudly raced to her room and put them on…they fit her perfectly. And so it goes.