Why Am I Scared of 50?

Okay. This is it. I'm going to admit it. I'll turn 50 this coming May. Already some of my friends have reached this milestone and they are handling it very well. Okay, maybe I'm a big chicken. Maybe I just can't wrap my head around the fact that I will have existed on this Earth for a half a century. AUGH! I'm freaking out already! A Half Century! That's soooo OLD! That's, um, 50 years! Okay, give me a minute. Calm breaths, calm breaths.

Okay, I can do this. 50 isn't so bad, right? Afterall, I've seen some big culture changes in just the short amount of time I've existed. Microwave ovens, personal computers, cell phones, color television, remote controls, recliners, Facebook, texting, gas at almost $4.00/gallon, video games, VCRs and DVDs. Not sure if that compares to what the Greatest Generation (my parents) experienced, but it feels like it's pretty close.

Tonight while I was slicing apples for our dessert, I wondered about my grandmother. How did she feel about turning 50? I wasn't even born yet. I was just a kid when my mom turned 50. I don't remember how she handled it. Of course, my mom likes being old. Sometimes she's very strange like that. But this raises an interesting question - each generation has it's own definition of "old." Just a few generations ago, if a woman lived to see 50, she was lucky. Now 50 is considered the new 30.

Another friend of mine posted on Facebook, "If you haven't grown up by age 50, you don't have to!" Maybe that's the mindset I need to take. Okay, ladies, who wants to go cruisin' with me on my birthday?