55. Where did the time go? Technically, now, a senior citizen. I can now buy my way through life at 10% off. How? How did I get here?
Yes, there was a mere momentary sense of the fleetingness of time, but life is so good and wonderful, there's no time to mourn lost years.
Lost years? What am I talking about??? It's been the richest of lives, and yesterday, another ordinary day, one of the 20, 075 days that I've been alive, was truly one of the best.
Yesterday, there was no time for reflection and introspection, but today, having leapt out of bed AGAIN (at 5:30), there IS some time. Time to walk the dog; time to check Facebook in between bites of Cap'n Crunch (the ONLY cereal whose sog-level allows for checking and posting on Facebook), and time to write my gratitude and thanks for this life I live.
I had breakfast at the First Church of Cracker Barrel with my husband and good buddy, Corey. Smiles, shop talk, friendly banter with the waitress, sharing pancakes with my husband.
Shopped at Restore. Have wanted to stop there for quite some time and yesterday, on my birthday, I made the time. Amazing place for a dumpster-diving, garage-sale fanatic, thrift store frequenter that I am. We might end up buying a refrigerator there!
Checked Facebook. So many birthday posts that made me smile. I tried to 'Like' all of them, but there were so many! More than 100! Hope I got them all!
Watched soccer. My oldest boy came home. Good buddy Corey over. A loss, but fun to share World Cup Soccer with them and the rest of the country.
Went to rehearsal and was surprised by a cake and gifts (!!). What a delightful surprise! Rehearsal went fairly smoothly, and really, where else would I rather be than with my theatre family? Like the card said:
"In a way, we choose our families. Of course, we have the family we're given, but if we're really lucky, we also have people in our lives who care about us so genuinely and personally, that we come to think of them as family, too...."
That's exactly right. And at 55, my family is huge and ever-growing. I am the luckiest of people, leading the most blessed of lives. It's a fine line between living life to the fullest and finding time to stop and smell the roses, watch the sunrise, and sit on the swing with a good book and I work up a sweat trying to find the balance for both. I know that in my chosen avocation, I have touched many lives, but equally, I have been touched by many more, so that my only concern from here on out is that I give back as much as I've gotten.
At 55, it may be early for this, but I've started thinking about what I will leave behind. Earlier this week, I commented to one of my theatre family, that I just wanted to be remembered. He laughed and said, "Chris, I'll forget my own name before I forget you." Lol. I doubt that, but if that's the legacy I'll leave behind, who could ask for more?
