Spoiler alert: Today’s blog is one of the Stroll-Down-Memory-Lane ones that evokes the song, “Sunrise, Sunset,” from Fiddler on the Roof. It has to do with milestone birthdays. Like 13, when you become a teenager, and 20, when you stop being one. Like 16, when you can get your driver’s license, and 21, when you’re officially and legally an adult. And then, before you know it, you start getting mail from AARP and Senior Living facilities, and all of a sudden your Medicare card comes in the mail.
Today, I reached Medicare age.
Unlike those other milestone birthdays, this is a contemplative one, when I find myself thinking back to different ages and stages of my life. My 20s, when I graduated college, got my first “real” job and my own apartment, and when I met and married the man I’m still with some 40 years later.
My 30s, which is when my kids were born, and also when I worked my way through cancer and the heart damage that followed chemotherapy.
My 40s were traveling years, as my husband’s job moved us first from the Chicago area, where we were born and raised, to Virginia, then Colorado, then Minnesota, where we spent the next 18 years before retiring to rural Georgia.
My 50s turned out to be a time of exploring and discovering new interests, new paths, and new worlds. It’s when I joined Toastmasters, which has been life-changing in many ways, and when I wrote the newspaper column that eventually turned into a book. It’s when I became a Dream Coach and started helping people achieve their dreams and goals, and when I achieved a few new ones of my own. It’s also when I founded my company, Find Your Buried Treasure, and when I traveled to Uganda for the first time.
And now, halfway through my 60s, I’m reflecting on different things I’ve done, and things I still want to do. Things I wish I’d done differently – or not at all – and things I wish I had done that don’t make sense to start or attempt at this point in my life.
I’m feeling my age more than I used to, waking up to some aches and pains every morning – although they usually wear off before too long. And although I’m still learning new things and enjoying new experiences, I now find myself wondering, “Is it worth it?” more often than I care to admit as I consider new options and opportunities.
Right about now is when I start hearing the words, “Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset, swiftly go the years…” The song will likely be going through my head for the rest of the day. And I don’t mind at all.
The years have gone swiftly. And they’ve been good years, for the most part. My birthday wish today is that there will still be many more to come. And I’m looking forward to them all.
June 29, 2018
©Betty Liedtke, 2018
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