My high school reunion is coming up in 15 more weeks. #25. Some of my old classmates have been busy pre-partying and the pics are up on facebook. All of my old classmates look better than me (this from the delusional woman who can look in a mirror and still see a thin person peering back at her). And yet… some of the pictures show them clinging to youth with drunken abandon. And I think, “Who would want those particular pictures out there on the internet for your children/boss/co-workers/pastor/you-name-it to see?” This alone puts me in the “mature woman” category — not because I am mature and they aren’t, but because I am talking like an old lady… and I’m a little concerned about tagged photos of me showing up in August.
I started rounding my age up in my early 30’s. Many women I admired were older by a few years and I wanted to be in their age bracket, so for a few years I was 35, and then I spent 4 years being 40. In some ways, this kept a new decade from being a shock. (I’d been saying I was that old for 4 years, after all!) After 40, my husband asked me to only age one year at a time. (male ego, much?)
I suspect that your “worst” decade is the one where you have the greatest stresses happening all at once. In my case, this decade began a few months prior to my 35th birthday — which means my decade is going to last longer than a decade, because really? How can I end the worst decade and begin a new & better one with my firstborn off at college, the next one a high school senior, the third child a high school freshman, and my baby in his last year of grade school? This sounds like crisis mode to me! Not to mention (but I am) my husband threatening to retire at this very same point and throwing my life into more change and upheaval. Oh, wait… did someone say the word CHANGE in regards to a middle-aged woman? I’ve got a hot flash for you: Happy Pills can’t even begin to touch this scenario. Trust me, I’ve tried.
Kcinnova's World 