"Aunt Lucindi, how do you feel about turning 50?"

On our family vacation, my nephew asked me this question.  I had been thinking about turning 50 quite a bit during the past year, and despite the fact that the day (today) was only a few days away, had not formulated a response, not even in my own mind.  Not a formal one anyway.  But he asked, and I needed to respond.  And I felt pressure to give the right response, because as an almost 18-year-old, soon heading off to begin his own adult life in college, he really wanted to know how it felt to be turning 50, an age that sounds old, perhaps?

I confessed that I had been contemplating that very question, because it was true, and because it gave me another moment to consider my reply.  Then I took a deep breath and said, "I am grateful for my first half century of life, for it has been a gift, and I look forward to my next half century."  He tilted his head a bit, smiled and seemed pleased.  I think it gave him comfort to know that I regard this milestone, often despised as growing 'old', as an achievement I cherish and view it as a step on my continued path of 'life', a celebratory moment on this journey of mine to live joyfully for as long as I am given the opportunity to do so, perhaps for a second half century (or more?).

Happy 50th Birthday to me!