Turn and Face the Change

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Pretty soon now you're going to get old
going to get a little older,
Time may change me,
But I can't trace time...


I woke up with those lyrics from the David Bowie song Changes, running through my head. Today is Change, part 2.

My oldest is home for three weeks. He attends college 630 miles away in Cincinnati, Ohio.
We had a rare evening alone, and sat around our dinner table talking for over an hour. Those of you with teenagers/young adults know that an hour is a long time to engage him in one-on-one conversation.

We both admitted that we are looking forward to, and at the same time, dreading the upcoming year. I've always thought of September,(and now August), as the New Year. From the time I was a kid, the start of a new school year was a time to take stock, set goals, and begin again.

This "New Year-School Year" we will all reach some major milestones. My oldest begins his senior, and last year of college. My second born will be a senior in high school and my baby will complete her last year of middle school. And me? I turn the big 5-0.

Oh, I am dreading the start of the school year. Once we jump on that train it's going to travel like a bullet, building momentum as we speed through the next nine

months until we reach these milestones.

One more year of my oldest coming home for holidays and home cooking, one more year of my second born greeting me with his big hugs and sweet smile, one more year of pretending my baby is not really a true teenager.

Getting older is not as scary as realizing that I will soon have to let another one of my chicks leave the nest to college and watch the oldest fly away for good- into the real world.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

Aging Gracefully

"You get old when you stop being interested. You get old when you don’t create any more." - Della Reese

It's a slow and lazy Sunday morning. Slow because of how long it seems to take my body these days to stretch out all of the kinks and weird pains that seem to come from nowhere. I need a hefty shot of caffeine before my brain can engage. Welcome to the 50's!

I'm in my fiftieth year, which does not officially end until the tail end of December. I have been preparing to enter the next decade for the last few years; learning to say my age without wincing, and repeating the mantra, "you look damn good for your age."

When I got back into teaching after a 16 year hiatus, it was a slight shock to realize I was no longer one of the "young ones." Working with a staff of very young women (think fresh out of college), and a boss ten years my junior has an eye-opener, but also a blessing.

I have had to catch up on the newest trends in teaching, yet I do not feel the same pressure to "prove myself" that I had in my 20's. I am often the person that my boss has looked to for advice and support as we muddled through our first year.

But being older isn't the same as being old. I have continued to grow; to challenge myself to learn new things. I'm learning to accept my physical limitations and some mental ones too!

I am determined to age gracefully, but I refuse to grow old.