Getting older isn’t so bad.

Laying in bed last night, I told my husband how happy and content I feel at this age. 1.5 power readers on, propped up on my reading pillow, doing some light reading, like how to find purpose during the greatest times of suffering, next to the guy I’ve been sleeping beside for 25 years, who also has a book in hand. Which is a notable event in and of itself, as we’ve spent many years, him questioning “how much longer are you gonna read”, because he has something much more active in mind he’d like to be doing;) This is a running joke for us because years ago, I wouldn’t put my book down and he rolled out with the comment, “sometimes I wish you didn’t know how to read!” Lol. Yes, just what every man wants….a wife who is willing to have sex on demand and doesn’t know how to read;)

When it comes to getting older, we obsess about all the things we’ve lost rather than what we’ve gained. My skin is starting to show the slightest signs of loosening. My under eyes have some visible wrinkles, ever so graciously pointed out to me by my 30 year old aesthetician at the medi-spa when I go in for laser treatments. Her intentions are to up-sell me a few hundred bucks by injecting me with some chemical filler under the ruse of helping me look younger but what is sure to make me look like an ass clown who has been punched in the face too many times, with a sagging, crepey neck. That’s a hard no, but thanks.

My vision isn’t what it used to be and I now have to wear readers to do what I love. I’m now called “ma’am” by everyone in the service industry on all occasions instead of here and there. My daughter finds my friends cooler than she finds me and I have to search her playlist to find the musician someone was talking about whom I had no idea existed.

These are the things society tells us are the negative consequences of getting older. Maybe they are but maybe they’re not so bad. Those wrinkles on my face mean I have probably learned a thing or two over the years. My readers give me what my husband would call the “hot for teacher look” and I AM much cooler than most people my age (my daughter just doesn’t know it).

I’ve also officially crossed over into not having any more fucks to give about what others think about me. That alone is worth the price of admission!

Life is pretty darn good. I like being 49 years old. I like the wisdom I have, the strong confident body I have, the relationships I’ve nurtured with authenticity, and the boundaries I’ve set to keep my life free from bullshit and shallow conversations.

I didn’t have these things in my 20’s and 30’s. Just like those of you reading this in your 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s have some things I do not yet possess (like more wrinkles;).

How you age is up to you. You can do it with your mind fixed on what you’re losing or gracefully, radiating confidence, wisdom and the beauty found only in those who appreciate every day they’re given.