A Valentine Birthday

Today is my birthday. I’m in the fifth decade of my life and fast approaching the sixth. I’m old. Sometimes I wonder how I got to be this old. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was that young girl up there, eighteen and away at college beginning a brand new adventure and having big dreams.
If I could go back to that eighteen year old girl I would tell her that while heartaches may bring her down they will followed by joys that will lift her back up and more than make up for the heartaches. I would tell her that her crazy boyfriend of that blind date in the cemetery will be the best husband and dad and grandfather she could ever ask for.
I would tell her to spend more time with all the people and friends she loves and don’t ever be afraid to tell them out loud that she loves them and the best of them will still be by her side when she’s old. I would tell her when she’s 28 she’ll fall in love all over again when a little baby boy is placed on her stomach in the middle of the night and life will never again be the same. A little less than two years later before the “Big 30” and on her wedding anniversary a bouncing baby girl will come along and steal the day and every anniversary thereafter.
I would tell her there will be achievements, mistakes, and regrets along life’s journey but to accept them for what they are, learn from them, and keep looking forward, never back.
I would tell her that while nothing can prepare her for it, death will come throughout her life more times than she thinks she can bare. It will bring sadness and emptiness but life does go on. Such is the way of life.
I would tell her that hearing she’s going to be a Grandparent will make her feel really old before she’s ready but once it happens she’ll wonder what she was ever worried about.
I would tell her that mid-life is just that – mid-life. There are no crisis to avert, just life to live to the fullest each and every day and to keep dreaming and dream big.

Happy Valentine's Day

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