Fifty.

How old that seemed when I was a kid, and now it is just a beginning.

I am a bundle of emotion today I find. It has been quite a journey getting here.

Well, that is what life is, right? It ebbs and flows, changes and evolves.

I am really fortunate and really blessed to have the friends and family I have. I find myself remembering other birthdays I have had. From when I was very little to a few years ago. A veritable potpourri of memories. Kind of cool.

I love where I am now.

In life, we grow and change, and we come full circle. I believe I have come full circle. My late grandmother had a saying – you always come back to what you are from.

How true.

I am where I am supposed to be and who I am supposed to be with. I am lucky enough share my life and birthday with the most amazing of men. I love and I am loved.

Life has many twists and turns and bends in the road. What you thought would be at fifteen or sixteen is completely different by the time you hit your twenties. Then there are the thirties and the forties. Every decade is different, but if you are lucky you have awesome people in your life who see you through every decade.

I have been lucky that way. I have amazing people in my life, and a lot have been there since I was the littlest of girls.

As we go through life people enter and leave our lives. You don’t get to be fifty without that happening. It’s ok and it is part of the cycle of life.

Being fifty is like standing on the edge of something new. You have everything that came before, and now you find yourself looking forward to what lies ahead.

Three years ago and a few weeks before my then birthday, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It made that birthday a little bittersweet and even a little scary. But dealing with that made me really value my life and those in it.

With age comes acceptance. Not that I consider myself old, because I don’t . You learn you can’t be responsible for the actions of others, only your own. You learn you can’t be responsible for the actions of others, only your own. You learn (sometimes with difficulty) that things are beyond your control and that you have to believe in God or whatever higher power you choose that it will come out all right in the end.

Today I dedicate my post to my friends and family. You are the ones who lift me up and I want you to know how much you all mean to me. Thank you for being on this journey with me. Cheers to the next phase of life and thank you so much for making my life special.

Cheers to the future!