Birthday woes

I turned 50 last month. There...I said it! I thought my 40th was hard, but another decade has come and gone already. Wow! Life is going by much too quickly. I have literally lived my life in fear for the entire year leading up to this birthday. I guess that number has just always signified "old" to me and I don't consider myself old yet. I don't want to be old. I have found myself turning more to material things, spending money that I shouldn't to try to make myself feel younger; buy youth, I guess. The closer I got to March 23rd, the more I panicked. One day my good friend Sandie asked me why I was so upset. She told me, "it's just a number". My brother told me "it's just another day". A light turned on in my head and it caused me to do some reflecting. Would I really want to go back to any specific age I've already surpassed? No way! I'm having the time of my life. It just keeps getting better and better. That doesn't mean I haven't experienced trials, or won't again, but what I've learned in my 50 years is incredible. It's my life experiences that have taught me who I am; what I'm made of, given me confidence in myself; opened my eyes to so many things that I am grateful for. It's time to stop living my life in fear, but rather embrace what I've been given and take each new day as a gift. So now, I truly feel like celebrating. I love the lyrics "Celebrate, Celebrate, Dance to the music..."