The "Joys" of Being Over 50

THIS POST IS FOR WOMEN 50 AND OVER.

Seriously.

All men, go away.

Women younger than that, I am warning you- you are reading at your own risk. It may be beneficial to your happiness to remain ignorant of the following information for as long as possible.

To women of my generation, the ones alive for over 5 decades- I need to know. Am I the only one? Is it just me?

I seem to have turned a corner in this autumn part of my life, and my body apparently is concerned I will blow away or fall over. To prevent this demise, my anchor is growing. I am not speaking metaphorically and this is no analogy.

Even without gaining weight I am managing to increase the girth units around my hips. It is as if all fat cells not needed for any other crisis are migrating there. Maybe they are having a convention, meeting up with other fat cells, and multiplying. Plus they are sending word back to the other fat cells, “Come on down, it is great here!”

Perhaps this is the unavoidable result of gravity. Gravity and it’s powerful, inevitable tug definitely affects several parts of my anatomy. And by “affect” I mean destroy. Remember when National Geographic used to arrive in the mail and there were pictures of women in the bush who had never endured underwire contraptions of torture? The location of their female anatomy confounded my young mind. Now I understand.

And what the heck has happened to my throat? I clearly remember the moment I borrowed a makeup mirror from my daughter (because its magnification helped my failing eyesight), set it on the bathroom counter, and looked DOWN into it. One muffled scream later, I made a vow to never look down into a mirror again. Talk about the negative effects of gravity! But even without looking down, there are ligaments appearing, skin sagging, and other negative situations all occurring at the same time. If (when) scarves go out of style, I will really have a problem. I may resort to only buying turtlenecks from now on.

I desire to age gracefully. I refuse trying to stay in my 20’s or 30’s for the rest of my life. Everyone has ten years per decade. That is it. I don’t resent twenty-year-olds. They only have ten years of lithe, toned, high-metabolism youth. They should enjoy it. But the theory of graceful aging runs smack dab into the unpleasant realities on this other side of the hill. And my joints will tell you, “It hurts!”

Why would God allow the demise of age?

Maybe He wants me to focus on other aspects of myself- like my heart and soul. I am so much more than this aging exterior.
Perhaps He is teaching me to be grateful for the more permanent parts- like what I think, how I serve, who I teach.
Could He be loosening my grip on this world with its inescapable decay? This body is a temporary home for me and its physical deterioration certainly multiplies my desire for the glory of eternity.

All women over 50, we need each other! We also need to strengthen each other so we can encourage those sweet young things 20 years behind us to keep up the good fight. We have a lot of hard won wisdom to share.

Until called home, I remain here serving Him, in my sagging, creaking, wrinkling body. I may be in a turtleneck, but I vow to remain in the fight until the end. At least with this trusty “anchor” I know I won’t blow away any time soon.

Please share with me your own challenges of aging, and I will pray with you, cry with you, or laugh with you…whichever is appropriate!