What I Love About You Monday...Growing Up Edition

Friday night I had a dream (a nightmare, really) that I was eighteen again and had the chance to do it all over.  I felt completely wigged out, overwhelmed, and wanted nothing more than to go back to my forty year old self.  


I was walking with a faceless, nameless someone through what I think was a gymnasium while discussing my options and I still couldn't think of any one thing I really wanted to do differently. I didn't want a second chance and was relieved to wake up and realize that it was all just a dream and that I was actually still in the year 2011.  


And I don't think it takes a genius, a dream dictionary, or a shrink to interpret that one.... 


I want to keep on being me. 


And that's a good thing.  


I think growing older gets a bad rap.  And while I realize that I still have quite a few milestone birthdays yet to hit, I'm finding that I am growing more fond of me as the years roll by.  I like the woman I am now, at forty, a little more than the one I was at thirty and a whole lot more than the baby faced one I was at twenty.  

So today, for this edition of What I Love About You Monday, I think I'll list a few of the things I have come to love about growing older/up...

~The valuable life lessons I've learned that could have never been taught in a classroom or by reading a book.  

~The thinking about something that seems to have only happened just a few years ago and being hit with the realization that it was more like twenty years ago.  It doesn't really make me feel old.  It makes me feel that I have acquired a true past...a history...and the wisdom to know which things worked and which ones didn't.

~The ability to stay home on a Friday or Saturday night and feeling perfectly happy and content instead of like I'm missing out on all the excitement and fun that is surely being had elsewhere in the world without me.

~The knowing when to speak up and when to keep my mouth shut. (at least most of the time anyway)

~The realization that while traveling the world is a wonderful experience (and wanting to do lots more of it), there is no place like home and it has always, and most likely forever will be, my most favorite place to be.   

~The comfort I feel in my own skin that I just didn't feel when I was younger.  I am much more forgiving and accepting of myself now and have stopped trying to make my body be something it was not meant to be.  

~The way I have learned to forgive by realizing that nobody is perfect and holding onto grudges only hurts myself.  

~The ability to relate to so many different people on so many different levels because I have been where they are.  

~The wisdom to know that sometimes things just have nothing to do with me, personally, being able to suck it up, put it behind me, hold my head high and carry on.  It has taken me a long time to get here. 

~The good memories....so many priceless memories that far outweigh the bad and that I hope to only continue to add to and to never, ever lose...

Time Marches On... (A Re-post)

***This post was originally written and posted on 11/29/2010 (Black Friday)... 


Well, I'm back from shopping. I got up and hit the stores at 4:00 a.m. this morning.

BwaHaHaHaaa!

NOT.

Getting up in the dead of dark and hitting Target and the mall so that I can fight my way through a crowd of crazy-eyed, blood thirsty bargain shoppers all in the name of saving a buck is not my idea of a good time.

Instead I slept until nearly 11 o'clock! And I still feel sleepy. I think my turkey was spiked.

Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I had a brand new wrinkle pop up just over my right eyebrow yesterday.

WTH? Just like that. There it was...Ta-Daa!

So I spent the rest of the day looking in various mirrors, including the side mirror in Charlie's truck as we hit the highway for his dad's house, and pulling the skin back tight on my forehead to see how I'd look with botox.

And I kept hearing Dolly Parton's voice as Truvy in Steel Magnolias, in my head all day saying,

"Honey, time marches on, and eventually you realize it's marchin' across your face!"

I was 18 when that movie first came out and I have seen it numerous times since but that was never one of the lines I related to much. 

Until yesterday.  There it was.  Dolly Parton's voice magically appearing in my head like some full of wisdom fairy godmother.  

I'll be 40 in less than 5 months now and I have spent the last few months since I turned 39 trying to wrap my mind around that.  Simply because I just do not feel it. 

I remember when I first noticed the signs of aging on my face.  I think I was approaching 30 when I realized that there was a little crease in each of my eyelids that was not there before. 

Then around 35, two little wrinkles between my eyebrows showed up magically overnight.

So I suppose it was time since they seem to be showing up in 5 year increments. 

Would I trade them back in, if it meant also trading back all the life experiences and wisdom I've gained in my (almost) 40 years?

Not a chance.  

Besides, there's always botox.  

Or maybe not.

Hello Forty. Let's talk!

Hello Forty, I'm Diane!

How kind of you to show

I think we'll get alone just fine,

though there are things you need to know...

I don't plan to slow down

because you know that I couldn't

I'll never stop dancing

or forget things I shouldn't

My old friends, the Thirties,

gave me dignity and grace

but I could have done without

these little lines left on my face

They are still quite manageable

and I can deal with them fine

but don't get any bright ideas

about leaving your own behind!

I often get these cricks

in my shoulders and my neck

Sometimes my right knee's weak

But I can keep all this in check!

So don't ever try to get me down

or put my back against a wall

Just keep your wrinkles to yo'self

and you and me? We'll have a ball!