Reflection of Minneapolis's stone arch bridge in the Mississippi River |
Forty seemed so old when I was 19 and having surgery on my spine. Forty seemed like a tremendous goal.
We have the chance to begin again every day. Every moment, really. Every time we think a thought or open our mouths, we can go from here to there and have a fresh start. Life is stuffed with changes and transitions and bridges to somewhere new.
When I was in my 20s or even in my 30s I imagined my elder years would be staid and even. It's been anything but that. Here's my list of transitions of the last dozen years (in no particular order.) Things are always changing for all of us.
Maybe now the question is, what changes do I want to make in the coming year?
Children at home to empty nest
Married to divorced
Brunette to blond
Blond to silver
City dweller to suburb dweller
Suburb dweller to city dweller
Crazy and depressed everyday to crazy and depressed now and then.
On medication to off
Meat eater to vegetarian
Vegetarian to meat eater
Anxious person to somewhat less anxious person.
Dog and cat owner to houseplant fancier
Freeway driver to ardent pedestrian
Caregiver of the dying to bereaved
Homeowner to condo dweller
Ground-floor inhabitant to fifth floor inhabitant
Distracted to devourer of books.
Insomniac to dream journaler (some nights, anyway)
Mothered to motherless
Californian to Minnesotan
Beach walker to riverbank walker
Wheat eater to gluten intolerant
Hardwood floor fanatic to I love my bedroom carpeting
Grandmother of children to grandmother of high schoolers.
Owner of too many books to owner of fewer (but still too many) books
Big drinker to little drinker.
66-year old to 67-year-old