Turning 50 (Exhale)

Just wanted to quickly post a couple of art journal pages I've made recently.  My birthday is fast approaching, and this year I turn the "big 5-0".

  

Yup.  Fifty....  I'll say it again. "FIF-TY"...  

Play it again Sam!!  FIFTY!...

    

Hmmm...  So what are my thoughts about that?

It's funny to me that I now can remember 40 as being a big dirty f-word!  I didn't like it, and I was determined to rebel all the way, "kicking and screaming", as they say!  But now my feelings are mixed.

Fall Fearless and Fly art prompt #5, favorite colors:

pink and purple when I was young; currently turquoise and black if you

could even pin me down to any favorites.  I love ALL colors!  

As I turn 50, the next dirty f-word, I think I still have some very legitimate reasons/issues to be a little dissatisfied with; but what I've really discovered is that "kicking and screaming" never worked for me...   not one little bit... hard as I tried!  It didn't turn back time.  No magicians, fairy godmothers, or genies from a lamp appeared to grant my wishes for an instant facelift or a renewed metabolism... And frankly, now I was a little ANGRY!  In fact, forget what the numbers are, or how many fine-lines or wrinkles I have, or what my present weight is at the moment!!!  I'd bet my way of thinking has been my worst enemy EVER for the past ten years!  It never did me any favors!  It never flattered or enhanced my true self in any way at all!  Nor do I imagine anyone else was ever remotely impressed by it!  Such rebellious and contemptible thinking is poisonous really.  Here I had kicked the habit of smoking, but now running through my veins was this vile attitude about nothing but numbers!  (Wait a minute...  Is this one of those "a-ha moments"?!)

Well, here you see what I've found most wonderful about art journaling.  While I get to play with everything from papers and paints to markers and crayons, for even so little as just 15 minutes to half an hour a night, my thoughts and feelings have a way of sorting themselves out.  I wind down.  My mind seems to clear itself of stress, confusion, frustration, etc., while then, oftentimes, makes way for illumination, freedom, and absolute joy!

I like how Joan Rivers says, "Don't Count The Candles"!  What for?!...  "Yesterday is history.  Tomorrow is a mystery.  Today is God's gift.  That's why we call it the present."  If I'm gonna AGE, I'd like to do it gracefully!...   And HAPPILY!..   While doing my best, to put my best foot forward!

"There is a fountain of youth:  It is your mind, 

your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and 

the lives of people you love.  When you learn to tap 

this source, you will truly have defeated age."  

~Sophia Loren

Ask me how I'll feel when I turn 60, God willing?...   and I think I will probably, again, just thank my heavenly Father for getting me there, and for blessing me so greatly as He does!

Thank YOU so much for stopping by today!