Currently I’m reading Return To Sullivan’s Island (Lowcountry Tales) by Dorothea Benton Frank. Her writing is not as deep and heart touching as Kristin Hannah, but the books flow with a great storyline. Last night I came across two thoughts that, today, on the morning of my sixtieth birthday, intersected. One was that two days of our lives are written by God – the day we were born and the day we die. What we do with all the days in between is up to us. (Even as a Christian, I do believe that, because God gave us free will – a topic for another day.) The other thought that stuck in my brain was that of ’rounding the bend – the lowcountry phrase for when a person moves from one place in life to another. I would say the morning of my sixtieth is the perfect time to contemplate these ideas.
For me, ’rounding the bend represents each new decade of my life. Today my fifties are over. When I go to Koko Fit Club this morning I will type in 60 for my age for the first time. I notice didn’t make an issue of typing in 59 for the last time yesterday. Why? Because my nature is always looking forward. I love the anticipation of what’s new “around the bend”. My fifties were about finishing raising my children and discovering who I was (and am) without them tethered to my hip. Reflecting on Sunday’s post about what they did for our sixtieth birthdays (hubby turned sixty in July) showed they are truly adults, in their own right. Today I “round the bend” thinking – wait – no, not thinking – but KNOWING they will be forever able to stand on their own two feet.
With the umbilical cord cut after 32 years, my sixties are now MY time. Not “my time” when I have time in between the children’s life problems. No. They are perfectly able to handle their own life situations with nothing more than an occasional listening ear from me. This decade is about reinvention. Forging out a writing and illustrating career, taking extra special care of my body so on this day, ten years from now, I’m still heading out the door to fit club, challenging my mind with ideas and concepts that will, in turn, nurture my soul. ‘Rounding the bend is exciting. I can’t wait to immerse myself into my new decade.
And so, as another day goes by, I love ’rounding the bend, anticipating the sights and sounds of the new carnival ride ahead, and…for the first time in my “sixties”, I have written.
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