Turning Fifty

Today I got a letter from AARP, congratulation me on turning fifty and telling me that am eligible to become a member and get to enjoy all of the benefits that life after fifty has to offer.
FIFTY!!! When did that happen? Wasn't it yesterday that I was still being carded?

Okay, so I have gained a few pounds, and my knees hurt, but fifty? Thinking back, each decade had something interesting to offer me.

My Teens offered a future and freedom, access to a car, my first plane ride, the right to vote and in my day turning 18 meant that it was legal to drink.

My Twenties gave me by first college degree: an associates, my first real job, my first apartment and my a cat named Snowball who was my first pet. And my first trip overseas (to Ireland).

My Thirties was a time of major changes. This time at work, I was the boss. It was in my thirties that I got married and had a baby, quite my job, had another baby, got a part-time brainless job (to get out of the house) and settled in to a life and a wife and mother

The the dreaded Forties came. I went back to college got a bachelor's degree. Then I lost my mother, had a health crises of my own,saw my oldest child become a teenager, then I lost my father. My Forties were tough.

So now I am Fifty, I look at this as a time of new beginnings. I am really not sad about turning Fifty, each decade has some wonder adventures and some sad events. I can't wait to see what happens next!