A Tribute to Old

Hello there strangers. I've been away. Thanks to Brooke for doing ALL the blogging for Seal. She's so good at it.

I've been out of town attending my grandmother's 90th birthday party, which was basically a family reunion. My sibs, parents, and I were gathered in Colorado for the last several days hanging out with my grandma and her friends, watching a video of family photos (over and over again), and just generally enjoying each other's company. I don't see my sister and my brother very often, so it was great to hang out with them.

The most wonderful part of the trip was seeing what 90 looks like, and 80, and 70, and 60, and 50. People, I'm 40. That's right. Forty. I've been so caught up in that number since it came into my life. Seriously. It's my age, but ever since I turned 40, I've been obsessed with it. I've felt old, like probably more than half my life is gone, like death is around the corner, like I should have done so much more by know, like in each and every day there were so many reminders that I am MIDDLE-AGED. I've been self-involved about this whole 40 thing. It's ridiculous. Like no one else knows how I feel? How stupid. So I'm 40? BFD.

I have a whole new perspective. Thanks to Florence, Patti, Ruth, Janet, Teddie, Linda, Anita, Cindy, Sharon, Dori, Dottie, and so on. All of these women 50 and up are having fun. They're not fixated on age. At 90 my grandmother said, "Krista, age is a number. I don't care about the number. I care about living my life, and my friends feel that way too. Get out there and dance before your number is up."

These incredible women danced, drank, ate, laughed, hugged, shared stories, argued about politics, stole cake from others, wept, and reminded me to kick fear of aging in the ass and say yes to life.

Say yes to life!

To all my lovely older female relatives, friends, and Seal readers--check out our new title For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance