Birthdays... WTF

No, not that WTF. This year my friends and I are celebrating 'We Turn Fifty (WTF)'. Forgive me for the play on words, but there is much about turning fifty that leaves us women thinking 'What The...", well, you get what I mean.

Sometimes we have a tendency to over-dramatize the milestone birthdays. We set up unrealistic, unmet expectations, followed by unwarranted disappointment. We don't seem to let ourselves off the hook. 'This is where I expected to be at _______ (fill in your age)'. What a difficult way to live our lives.

You will hear forty is the new thirty, fifty is the new forty; honestly, who coins these phrases other than those who are still trying to hang on to what they believe the last decade held for them? Funny how the previous milestone is only desirable after we have left it in the dust and it is no longer attainable. 

I am not one for large celebrations or public recognition of the 'big day', that is just not my style. People often mistake this desire to celebrate quietly as distaste for aging or denial of the event. That is not it at all; quite the contrary.

For me, reaching fifty is truly a privilege. The year that I turned forty, two mothers of young children in my life did not. They lost their battle with cancer, leaving behind four young sons between them. During those days I could not look at my children, then ages 7 and 10, and not get choked up thinking how lucky we were. I have always been one to appreciate that sentiment, but this drove it home.

So, when I hear complaints about sagging body parts, lines on the face and weight that will not come off – sometimes coming out of my own mouth – I try to keep the perspective and realize that every birthday is a gift. 

As my dad always says, "Beats the alternative".

Original 50-something Mom Blog post. Amy also blogs at i could cry but i don't have time and leaving the zip code.