50 Will Be (F)ine

Today I got a 50 cent piece for change at the post office. Scanning through the radio stations, I heard "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover." My new cooking magazine boasted "50 Recipes for Summer Produce." 50 50 50...five zero...five-oh...5 x 10...2 x 25...
It's a conspiracy. I have a month to go, and the fates will not let me forget it. I really don't know why this is bothering me in the first place. I'm not feeling much different than the days when I was younger, thinner, working full-time, raising kids, and socializing frequently. Most of my friends are older than I am, and they don't seem to be less active, less healthy, or uninterested in the things that make life fun. I just spent a couple days with a bunch of people who are mostly in their 50s and 60s, and we golfed, drank, told stories around the campfire, laughed a LOT--all the same things I did throughout my 20s, 30s, and 40s, too.
So I'm beginning to see that age isn't a number, it's an attitude. You can be chronologically 50 and view the half-century mark as the beginning of the end, the first step toward the Grim Reaper--or approach it with the attitude of "Today begins the next BEST 50 years!"
Hmm. I had someone wonderful in my life for more than 20 years who is the best example of this I've ever seen. Her name was Ine, and she started babysitting for 7-week-old Erica at age 66, then added Katie 2 1/2 years later. She had so much energy and vigor that I was the one who felt old when I'd pick up the girls after a long day at school --and Ine would be chasing them around outside. She found humor in any situation and laughed deep from her belly until her shoulders shook and the tears came. She gardened into her 70s, volunteered every day with the senior citizen meal program in her 80s, and in the 10 years before she died at 87, took trips with her daughter to several places, including Paris, the Caribbean, and Norway. Wherever she went, she made new friends and could be the life of the party. I think now how much FUN I had with my friend who was nearly 40 years older than me--but at heart was the same age or even younger.
Wow, this pep talk I have just given myself is working. You will not hear me whine about my upcoming milestone again. Somewhere out there is a 10-year-old just waiting for me to be her role model when she's in her 30s and 40s. Thanks, Ine.