I'm 50years 3mths and 5days old and counting...

Married at 32 to a man 10 years older and just like my father....DON'T DO IT LADIES !!!!!

Widowed at 45 and now living with my best friend and the man i wish i had married.

I BELIEVE ........

A Birth Certificate shows that we were born. 
A Death Certificate shows that we died. 
Pictures show that we lived! 

That just because two people argue, that doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, that
doesn't mean they do love each other. 
That sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry,  but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel. 
That we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change. 
That no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.  

That true friendship and true love continues to grow, even over the longest distance.

That you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.  

That it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

That you should always leave loved ones with loving words.  It may be the last time you see them. 
  
That you can keep going long after you think you can't. 
 
That we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel. 
 
That either you control your attitude or it controls you.
    
That heroes are the people who do what has to be done, when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences. 
 

That money is a lousy way of keeping score.

That my best friend and I can do anything, or nothing,and have the best time. 
  
That sometimes the people you expect to kick you, when you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.
    
That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had, and what you've learned from them...and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated. 
  
That it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. 
Sometimes, you have to learn to forgive yourself. 

That no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief. 

That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.   

That you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret.  It could change your life forever. 
  
Two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different. 
    
That your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you. 
    
That even when you think you have no more to give,if a friend cries out to you..you will find the strength to help.   
  
That credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being. 
    
That the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.  And the ones who are a pain, just never go away…
    
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything. 

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family

 for less gray hair or a flatter belly.

As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself.

I've become my own friend.

I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed,

or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need,

but looks so avante garde on my patio.

I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon;

before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4AM

and sleep until noon?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's,

and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love .... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body,

and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to,

despite the pitying glances from the jet set.  They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful.  But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten.

And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken.

How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers,

or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car?

But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. 

A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.

So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think.

I don't question myself anymore.  I've even earned the right to be wrong

So, to answer your question, I like being old.

It has set me free.  I like the person I have become.

I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be.

And I shall eat dessert every single day (if I feel like it).

My Mother, who i wrote this song for...It's called

"I WAS FOLLOWING YOU"

A tomboy at 4 years old with mud under my nails

with a tin can full of earthworms,

making the neighbor boys wail,

I didn't much like training pants, I quess when they got wet,

I'd take them off and hang them, on the back yard fence.

As a little girl I recall, how i worshipped you,

you always had the answers and knew just what to do.

And now that I'm grown, I wonder, if you ever knew..

How much your footprints mattered as I was following you.

And my grandmother, who I could tell anything, could bring all my friends to meet.  And who never lost her curiousity about the things the kids were interested in.  And always kept an open mind.