On a different subject...

As a birthday gift to myself, I signed up for a six-week tai chi class. It starts in early October, once a week for six weeks. Since my birthday is near the end of the month, this was a very early gift, something to anticipate.

It’s something I’ve been musing on for a while now.

This particular birthday is a milestone for me. And there’ve been times over the last year when it has felt more like a millstone. You see, Wren-friends, I’ll be turning 50.

Of course, I don’t feel that old. I feel like me, like I’ve always felt. My mind is roughly 18. It’s the rest of me that ... well.

For you 30ish types out there, this is fair warning: It’s coming. That 50th birthday seems like it’s a long, long way off, but believe me, it’s tomorrow. My own experience was that after I turned 30, time actually collapsed.

After 30, the whole shebang sped up, and each year seemed to go faster and faster. I understand now why old-timers say “I remember it like it was yesterday...” when referring to a moment that took place 20 or 30 years before – it’s because, in their perception, it was yesterday.

Wasn’t it?

Now, I have friends who tell me, “Don’t worry about 50, dear. My 50s were the best years of my life.”

I believe them. And I’m slowly bringing myself around to seeing this half-century milestone not as a millstone but as a new beginning.

Yeah, it sounds trite. But I’m a great believer in the power of the mind. I believe that how we think really does shape our lives in a myriad of tiny ways. While it’s in remission now, mostly, for a period of about 10 years I battled rheumatoid arthritis nearly every day. There were times when it damn near crippled me. But I still had to go to work, still had to cart laundry up and down four flights of stairs each week, still had to take the dog out for walks every morning and every night, still had to cook meals and raise a child. During that time I learned the value of mind over matter. I learned the art of distraction. I told myself I’d get through this workday, this dog-walk, this next load of laundry.

And I did.

I’m not starting this new half of my life expecting to look like a starlet. I had my starlet-like time, and it went by so fast that I hardly noticed. Now I’m delighted just not to be gimping around each day, smelling of Tiger Balm. I’m glad to be healthy and glad to have an inquisitive mind and a wild imagination.

I’m a work in progress, for sure, but aging is something that I believe can be approached gracefully and with dignity, and I’m gonna do it.

Hence, the tai chi. If there are any readers out there about my age who have tried it, or are practicing it now, I’d love to hear from you. I’m studying up. I’m looking forward to these classes.

And maybe, for my 51st birthday, I’ll take up snowshoeing.