I am 51 years old, and frankly, I wonder how this happened to me. I still get childhood diseases, and I play with 8, 9, and 10 year olds all week long as a school counselor ...at least 400 of them, and most every week 460 to 500 of them. I am more often than not doing this sort of not so good stuff to myself....I wake up, look in the mirror, and say, "My goodness but you look old! And fat!" which is not so very healthy, but I've gained a bunch of weight in the past 10 years, and I do look so MUCH older than I ever thought I would or COULD that I'm not only a tad repulsed, but amazed, surprised, and insanely pleased. I think this happens because I I always think I'm going to see myself at the age of 9 when I got my first haircut from a not-so-merry barber who said, "It'll grow back, Son," when he turned me around and I saw my Army cut in the mirror. It was my first store bought haircut, cost $3, and I replied, "But I'm a GIRL!!!!" I was such a skinny little kid! I could eat anything I wanted. I grew up with a farmer's daughter for a mother. She was one of 7 children, and she knew the value of work ethic, teamwork, and sharing. She's the brightest person I've ever met in my life, and is quite irriated and embarassed when I tell her so. My dad was in sales. He was always selling something, and it was not until he reached the age of 75 that we discovered that his real love is MUSIC. He loves everything about musicians, and had met quite a few in his "day" before the twins were born. I am one of the twins. We are identical twin sisters, and do not think, act, or do ANYTHING alike. The kicker is: we look, move, laugh, dance, and play exactly alike, so everyone treats us as if we are one person. The big thing is: my sister is not married, and she's lost a bunch of weight, so to see her is like looking in one of those "thin" mirrors people always want to look at in the amusement parks. I have a brother too, but there is no point in depressing anyone. My life now is pretty awesome. I have a career that I love so much, I would do for NO money. I'd go a step further. I should be paying the school board back my salary, and I would if I didn't need to pay for groceries, cars, gas, gasoline, electricity, postage, etc. On weekends I play with 8 dogs and 2 cats, or my 3 grown children or my beautiful 2 month old baby Grand daughter, but she lives so far away....Omaha Nebraska, sob. Sob.
The only way I can leave her there is that I love her parents and her other grandparents and her aunts and uncle who all live fairly close to her. My husband is very playful and has a keen sense of humor, which is part of the reason that I've kept him around for 46 years....we met when I was 5 and he was 6, but we became very good "best friends" at the ages of 15 and 16, and every once in awhile when he runs the dishwasher, or lets the dogs "out" , or feeds my cats or makes supper, I realize how lucky I am. He works out of the house, designing computer systems for commodity futures traders. We call these "high risk gambling" systems, and people who have this kind of money seem to really like them. I like him, but the systems are too difficult for me. He's business. I'm play. We're fairly compatible, dated for 4 years, and have been married for 32. I'm trying to think what else I should tell you: I have a pond with 700 fish, and I feed them, and I name them, and my dogs and I get a kick out of their 'bigness" because when we threw them out of little buckets a mere 3 years ago they were about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide.
Now, when one of them flips their tail, the boat almost turns over.
I collect rocks, plant bushes, flowers, and trees, cartoon people's faces, write funny poems and such about my friends, and play games with a group of women we refer to as the "widows club" because they are all widowed except me. (I am sort of an honorary member). They are by no means old women. Two of them were widowed at 42, and one of them was widowed at 20 and then again at 52. We are all about the same age, really. I collect all kinds of things - shiny things, new things, daring things, whimsical things, and I am a sucker for all jewelry. I don't care if it is something made for kids, babies, puppies. or a dead leaf brought to me by an excited child. I wear everything I am given. Now, I guess I'll leave you with the words I have plastered on the door to my office. "Gone crazy, back soon...."