My Next Decade

I had a big birthday on Boxing Day. I turned the big 6-0.To be perfectly honest I have been hanging on to the sounds of the last few birthdays happy to claim I was still in my 50's. I saw this one come last year for my best childhood friend. I saw my husband arrive at three birthdays starting with 6. Siblings,friends , sister in laws have gone before me and I knew( or hoped ) I would get there too but really 60 sounds so old. The real jolt is the realization just how quickly the 40's and 50's went. It even seems not that long ago that I was ( like my own children now) in my 30's.But I am here and for the most part very grateful for that. The next decade will hold many blessings, challenges and milestones as have the decades before. So as I welcome 2017 I also embrace the decade of my 60's.The mirror shows my age, my 63 year old husband stands beside me, my aging peer group defines me, my adult kids and growing grandchildren surround me and I claim all my past experiences and hold a treasure of knowledge and wisdom. I still have an active and inquiring mind. I have goals and dreams to pursue. I have accumulated worldly goods that I consider beyond the value of diamonds and gold. From the tiny, premature infant born December 26th sixty years ago I am who I am today. Let the decade begin! This was not my birthday cake. My sister in law Mae made me a lovely one but no one took a picture of it.