48 and Still Breathing!

I am now officially 48 years old. Yeah, I turned the big 48 this weekend. And I can say that with a smile - I'm still breathing and life is glorious!

Started my day actually with a mammogram (oh joy!) but believe me it got better after that. Actually this time it wasn't such a bad experience. The tech was a lovely person and we were so busy talking I didn't really pay attention when she actually did the study. But thankfully it's over for at least 6 months.

On Saturday my son and I attended the televised Bioneers conference at the local university. Now I know to some people this would not sound thrilling, but this was my first conference and it was actually very inspiring and got me thinking more as to what I really want to do when I get out of my present career. I've been a medical transcriptionist for too many years and quite frankly I'm looking forward to getting into something entirely different. I've gotten a lot of signals the last couple of weeks that my life needs to start down a new course and working with environmental issues may just be the ticket. I've always been a major Mother Earth girl and I would love to get involved in bettering the world. Topped off Saturday night with pizza and a movie, "Planet Terror," the one with the girl whose leg gets amputated and her boyfriend replaces it with a machine gun. Very gross movie but entertaining and I absolutely enjoyed it. Who figured I would be such a warped mom? Ah, the joys of parenthood . . . I love it!

Sunday my wonderful son took me out to lunch and then we spent the evening at my niece's birthday party (she's 5 going on 40, you know the ones), about 10 friends with 20 kids running around like a bunch of nuts just enjoying ourselves. I love parties but don't get to many, so it was a blast. Of course by the end of the night this lady was pooped and after another very interesting and enjoyable 3-1/2 hour phone call with my friend Tim in Tennessee, who is moving out here to California next month, I hit the hay with a thud!

Now I know this doesn't sound like a thrilling birthday weekend but it was. I spent time with some of the people I love most in the world, especially my son, and once again I'm thankful for every day I wake up. I can finally face the fact that I am middle-aged. But I guess I'm lucky, I like myself much more now than I ever have before. I'm not ready to "buy the farm" nor will I be "pushing up daisies' anytime soon, and although I've been told too much lately I'm not getting any younger I am certainly getting better.