I turn 50 on October 20 that's what 7 weeks, two days away??? I'm not sure why, but the thought of turning 50 has really just bugged me this year. All my friends have already turned 50 - or that is my close friends - yep - I do love the fact that "I'm the baby gotta love me" of the group. I remember when they were all turning 13, then 18 (when life was good and you could start drinking beer and wine at 18) then 21 all before me and I reminded them when they all turned old (30) I would still be in my 20's. Maybe I am bugged about turning 50 because all my milestone birthdays since turning 21 have had something odd/unique/weird...I don't know associated with them. For example: my 21st birthday - a senior in college - I ended up in the hospital with a kidney stone - no drinking for me - okay I did try to flush that stone out with lots of beer. Then on turning 30 I was pregnant with the second child and we were living in a condo while building our house. I remember that I enjoyed my 30th year and I think it was because I was literally with life! Nothing like a pregnancy to make you feel alive. Then there was 40. I didn't mind turning 40, in fact I was okay with it, but we had moved to Mississippi and I was disappointed being away from family and friends - so my dear husband and my mom literally sent my best friend to me on the train for my birthday. My best friend, Kim, had put together a great book for me; all my childhood friends had sent me a letter with a photo of their family and Kim had put them together in a book for me. After picking Kim up from the train station we took off for New Orleans and had a great time!
So here it is just a little under two months from my 50th birthday and I find myself thinking hard about what it means to turn 50. I've kept dairies/journals since I was 10 and got my first diary for my birthday - you know the little books with a key. I loved those diaries. I didn't journal when I was in college (probably a good thing), with the exception of keeping a record of trips or "adventures" including my month of interning for the "late, great, Senator from SC", no not Fritz Hollings - the other one. I started journaling again after my grandfather died and haven't stopped. I now own nearly 40 years worth of diaries and journals and it's very interesting reading some of them. I swear, I think I would grab that box of journals along with as many photo albums of the kids photos and my Bible (I have all the good stuff underlined in that Bible) if my house was on fire. Anyway, maybe I'll share some of those "interesting" moments from 40 years worth of journals. I can literally look back and know what I did for my 13th birthday, my 16th, and so on so. Now I move forward into the second half of my life. I've lived nearly a half century! Oh no... I really can't think of it that way.
Here's the personal scoop before I conclude for the night:
other than being nearly 50, I have been married since just before my 24th birthday. I was a mere child when I married! My husband of nearly 26 years (Oct. 1 is our anniversary) said to me, "marry me and I'll take you places" - and he did - Clarksville, VA, Forest City, NC, Clarksville, VA, Southern Pines, NC, Rutherfordton, NC, Mooresville, NC, Meridian, MS, Greensboro, NC and now the lovely Flat Rock, NC where I have vowed to NEVER move from unless it's to an urn! Seriously, we have lived in over 11 homes since we've been married and I realize that is no record, but I doubt we'll ever have a mortgage paid off! Oh well.
We have two - kind -of - grown kids - our first is a Carolina graduate and I mean the real Carolina - the University of North Carolina (okay I can hear the University of SC fans moaning) and then our son is in his second year at East Carolina University. And yes, I am proud of them.
I grew up in SC in the foothills and while my blood flowed orange I followed in my mother's footsteps and went to Lander College in Greenwood, SC. I met my Citadel graduate husband while living in Charleston, SC with a group of girls right after college. It wasn't love at first sight and in fact it was nearly two years later before we started dating, but when we did start dating nine months later we were married (four years later the first baby came along!).
Other random quick facts: I grew up water skiing and loved it...so for mother's day my husband and son gave me a water ski! I didn't get to ski as much as I had hoped this summer - but hey - I got right up on the first pull...like riding a bike baby! I also love to snow ski and I have MS - multiple sclerosis. My favorite mission: Carolina Cross Connection. My favorite book: To Kill a Mockingbird.
So what is my goal for this blog...I think maybe to reflect a little (or maybe a lot) but to also share as I approach this "milestone" in less than two months and then record my 51st year.
Okay - this is it for tonight. I guess I hit the submit button???? As that late, great SC Senator once said, "is the machine on"....
