I turned 50 last week, and that was a bit hard to type, but having typed it and lived it I can now think about listing the good things… so, randomly, here are some of them.
As my friend Will so accurately put it, I am the oldest teenager around.. so that’s good, and his gift was another good thing about my birthday.
I didn’t have a party, but I had a lovely dinner with my family and my mum and dad. 50 years of knowing 2 wonderful people and watching their incredibly loving and supporting relationship – what a wonderful gift.
I did go to my schoolfriend’s party, we’ve celebrated our birthdays together in far flung places and here in Sydney over a 35 year friendship. I knew most of the people there, we’ve seen eachother’s children grow up, we’ve shared eachother’s lives to a greater or lesser extent.
Spending a glorious night under the stars with people you feel totally and absolutely comfortable with? Effortless, joyful and worth the wait… a far cry from those stressful parties when you are young and insecure.
Watching a couple who’ve been together 25 years dance with eachother like two flirtatious teenagers? Almost made me cry with happiness.
Looking at our beautiful teenagers and young adult children and congratulating ourselves and eachother on the great job we’ve done as parents… well earnt satisfaction and shared relief that they are finally moving on or about to move on with the next phase of their lives..
Sharing plans for post-teenager travel, work, adventures and life? As exciting as the days we spent planning our schoolies trip or our first trip without parents at 16.
Sharing our fears for our ageing parents and grief at losses to death or dementia? Moving and reassuring.
Sobbing with laughter as my first boyfriend (year 7) headed a motley bunch of ‘musicians’ belting out 80s cover songs and dancing like a complete idiot? Liberating and totally uncool.
The wonder of seeing a friend strong and healthy after beating cancer, or another living an independent happy life after a disastrous marriage? Awe inspiring.
The morning after hugs, goodbyes, chats and coffees as we filtered back to the house from our hotel? Almost better than the party.
My post birthday facebook ‘unfriending’ session? Liberating and so so positive, from now on I promise to love and nurture the good friendships in my life and simply leave the others behind. Just because you’ve known someone for 40 years – it doesn’t mean you have to like them.
Life is about friends.. or friends are about life.. and while we may tread parallel or even divergent paths at different times, as we grow older the diverse paths seem to merge into one big road, and that’s a great road to be on right now.
With love to all my friends – old and new, you know who you are (well you do now!)
Filed under: getting older
love your thoughts on the 50th party-life can be grand, and that was one of the grand moments. So good to have some positive reflections on all our godd times. So far “we done good”
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