So…Where Is It?

I don’t feel any different.  Yesterday I had my f-word birthday.  No, not forty.  The other f-word.  I know, right?!  How did that happen?  One day, I’m a gawky seventeen-year-old, the next thing you know I’m a card-carrying member of the AARP.

So this morning I expected to feel like a senior citizen.  You know, experience the overwhelming desire to drink nickel coffee (even though I don’t drink coffee).  Feel the urge to call somebody “whippersnapper.”  Bitch at someone to turn down that crazy rock and roll music.  Instantly know when Lawrence Welk comes on television.

Nope.  Nothing of the kind.  It’s something of a let-down, I tell you.  But I did a little thinking.

As I mark my mid-century milestone, I’m inclined to share a few things I’ve learned along the way.

1. A broken heart doesn’t kill you.

2. Even when you have been utterly humiliated, you still wake up the next day.

3. When you’ve been treated really badly, you have an intense appreciation for being treated really well.

4. I’d rather be open to being hurt than closed to real love.

5. If you’ve made it this far with no scars, you haven’t really been trying.

6. Be fearless.

I guess I’ll just have to ease into this thing.  It’s not so bad when you appreciate the fact that more time means more life experience.  You realize that all those things you’ve gone through work together to make you who you are now.

And, of course, some things never change.  I still want to be Joan Jett when I grow up.