I hit a milestone birthday recently, and I’ve had mixed emotions about it. At first, I dug my heels in and felt as if I were being dragged kicking and screaming into the next decade. I held on so tightly to the old that my body stiffened, refusing to face the new. How could I be this age when I didn’t feel any older? How did I end up being this old anyway? Sometimes I felt like I was 18, but when I looked into the mirror I could see the inevitable changes in my body that I’ve fought against all these years. It’s a very tiring battle; one that isn’t so easy to combat. When my daughter posted a picture with my actual age on Facebook, I was mortified. And when I let her know how upset I was, she said “Embrace it!”

Embrace it…Embrace it…I thought about it over and over again. Being my age isn’t easy to embrace. Trust me. Yeah, yeah, life doesn’t always turn out the way you planned, blah, blah, blah. That’s a given. But things that brought me to this place in time are amazing events in my history. There’s so much joy along the way and so many gifts and blessings. They definitely overshadow the not-so-great things that have occurred to the point that they don’t hold a lot of relevance in the present.

I’ve realized that the one single most important thread that weaves through my life, strengthening it with each passing day is the love that surrounds me. The love of two of the all-time greatest daughters in the whole wide world. The love of my brother, my son-in-law, family and friends that are the very best ever. And then ultimately there are my two brand new twin grandsons who make me want to go on and live as long as I can hope for and reach decade after decade so I can watch them grow and see the promise of their lives unfold. For them my cup runneth over with so much love in a gushy-heart new kind of way that can’t be explained. In the past during times of trial I used to question how much more I could take; now I know I can take anything life has to offer as long as I have this love that surrounds me like a warm, fuzzy blanket…with threads of new and old intertwining…to keep me strong on the journey of where my life leads me.

So cheers to me…Happy 60th. There, I’ve said it! It’s out! Embrace it!!!