Wild-as-fuck Realization

Welcome to being halfway to one hundred years old. Are you 50 something? Me too!  Let's hit the highlights first and then dive in to each wild-as-fuck realization later. 

Point 1! So I turned 50'ish and thought about retiring. Great idea! I have my 30 years teaching elementary school, now I want to learn instead of lecture.  Point 2! Being 50 brings an Empty Nest. My child is off to college, graduating and beginning to discover an interesting independent life of his own.  Point 3! Fabulous and 50... when I look in the mirror, it reveals some wrinkles, but my body still feels healthy and strong. Or does it? Menopause is a riddle of trial & error nutrition vs hormones, no one really helps. Point 4! Middle age for me means old age for my parents. Your favorite folks are dying now. So even though my child has left the nest, and I presumably get to retire and be free, now we need to sit around and watch an awesome old person get older older older! Point 5! I'm in my 50's my husband is just 60, do we have enough money to quit our jobs? How much do we need? How much did we save? Are our financial advisors really "helping" or "hurting" us in the bank? Point 6! Being 50 reveals who your true friends are. What a blessing to have 5-10 close friends, even if they are far away, they just "get you" because of our shared history and memories. Point 7! Who the fuck is my family? We may have been raised together, same nature and same nurture. But who are those guys? Point 8! Reflecting on 50 and all of the above, can be sure-as-shit depressing. Be careful going to the doctor for depression though because they will wham-bam prescribe some heavy-duty narcotics, that may cause suicidal-tendency-side-effects, and take any hyphenated zest-for-life right out of you! Point 9! Doing the math...if I'm in my 50's and got married in my 20's than it's our anniversary numbering in the 30's? Thank all the Gods that selected a sensational soulmate for me. Every day and every night spent holding the hand of my "Lovey" is worth enduring all the dumbfuckery of being halfway to hundred. If I had to add in divorce and dating right now, a person might really unravel. 

Perhaps there are more Points 10, 11, 12 as we go down this rabbit hole...but these are the 9 highlights that are bonking me on the head this year and I am only a fine 56 to be exact! My hopes are to share this blog so other women 50+ might read, laugh, cry and sigh...just knowing this too is a PHASE of life. We might've all read the book, What to Expect When You're Expecting, when we were pregnant? Plus we had other young moms sharing the chaotic antics of their child's behaviors. If you're like me, then it really helped to know what was coming and now it is gonna be a shitshow, so hold on tight! But it's also just a phase of life. You are not alone in feeling, wondering, working so hard to find a similar answer when the issues of being halfway to a hundred come on strong. It's okay to have a wild-as-fuck realization hit you like a low-blow!