I have loved Alexandra Stoddard ‘s books for years.
She inspires in a way that speaks to me.
The book that I took off my bookshelf today was
Open Your Eyes.
It contained the perfect message.
And so I did.
Isn’t the bottom edge of this milk glass vase amazing?
And then, in the small bouquet
of zinnias I cut from my garden this afternoon,
I realized I have a pale green zinnia.
What a treat that was.
***
I had a shocking birthday this week.
I have never cared about all of that in terms of vanity.
Ordinarily my age was a non-issue,
but this one was
SHOCKING.
Dear friends, my daughters, blogging friends, and my husband surprised me, treated me,
nurtured me, humbled me, hugged me and more than
helped smooth
out those rough edge feelings.
Have you reconciled having an older body
physically and chronologically
with the heart, feelings, and thinking
of say a 16 year old?
Most days, I think I am still twirling my baton,
leading an imaginary band
in the yard, at the ranch.
So dear friends,
may I suggest that we all
open our eyes…?
We’re burning daylight.
32 comments:
So I'm not the only 20 year old hiding in a 60 year old body??? My body is definitely not what it once was...where did my waist go? But my mind just doesn't want to accept that I'm the age that I am!!!! Glad you had such a nice birthday.
Well, I just turned 57 and yes... the body has aged a good bit BUT my spirit is YOUNG still:) Time is flying by so fast ad I am enjoying EACH and EVERY minute!
Love your milk glass vase and the zinnias are gorgous!
Have a blessed day, HUGS!
I was just thinking about that very thing today.
By the way, Happy Birthday! Mine was May 12, turned 62 and the only upside is that I will get my first Social Security check June 15th!
I was down on my knees on the hardwood floor painting the bottom shelf of a large side table and when I started to get up, I couldn't! LOL!
I had to crawl on my knees then pull myself up using a chair for balance. I thought to myself that I look at every chore as easy but then I realize that was when I had a 50 year old body, not a 60. So, there you go. The mind stays young but the body doesn't.
hugs from an old broad!
Sissie
Happy Birthday Laura....I turned 49 this year...I don't feel a day over 21 in my mind...but if I look in the mirror...I wonder who that is looking back at me...love your photos...
Happy birthday! We May babies are blessed with this most beautiful month of the year.
I'm in the last year of a decade and next year will, perhaps, seem like a shocking number. I'm definitely still 21 though on a good day, and on a day that's not so good I'm about 13. I'll take this end-of-a-decade age over 13 any day!
Happy Birthday! I just had one myself(May 13th) and like you I just don't feel old. I promised myself I wasn't going to think about aging anymore.
Happy Birthday! Thanks for sharing your beautiful flowers.
Mind? Still going strong and thinking young. Body? Another story - needs a tune up. :-D
Hope you are enjoying your weekend.
Happy Birthday! I love Alexandria Stoddard also and have read many of her books more than once. She is truly inspiring! I can relate to your feelings of aging!!!
Linda
Happy Birthday my dear and your flowers are gorgeous.
Open Your Eyes, so poignant for all of us!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
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You will love it!
Happy birthday! Young at heart, everything else just tries to keep up:).
I'm heading for the downside of 68, and I can't believe it! 50 was the really tough birthday, for some reason; since then, I've celebrated each new year. (Actually, that's a generous exaggeration!)
You opened my eyes, too!
Happy Birthday! I know what you mean about being old on the outside and young on the in, I feel the same way. Hope you're having a good weekend :)
~tricia
Happy Birthday Bouquet!
Happy birthday. One of my colleagues reminded me Friday in fact, that we are on the downhill slope. In case it's not enough to think about it, now those of us facing a new chapter are reminding each other about this life shift! But in my mind's eye I'll keep picturing something else even though I will use my eye that sees.
Birthday 60 was difficult for me...but now I'm over it, am happy that I have a full and comfortable life with family and friends, and can take some time to "open my eyes". It's so much easier to do at this age. Great post!
Alexandra Stoddard is a favorite of mine. Love her way of thinking and seeing. I'm with you on the birthday thing. They're getting a bit scary, but then I think of those who aren't blessed to live as long as I have and that changes my tune. I'm blessed. I will open my eyes and take it all in.
This is one of those amazing birthdays that many of us dread, yet as I edge toward the mid-decade (such a word?) of it I can truthfully state that it IS so far, the BEST decade. Why do my friends not believe me?? lol Nestle in for a great ride, dear Laura.
Love,
Karen
Ladybug Creek
yes is beautiful.
no doublt.
milf glass is beautiful.
xx
Oh how in the world can I really be this old when I think I am so young. Just don't act your age and enjoy who you really are. Happy Belated Birthday. Hugs, Marty
An wonderful post Laura! I am so happy to hear that you had a great birthday!!!!
I think growing older has been a great ride. One that I never mind until I am standing next to one of my daughters and catch a glimpse of us in the mirror, I am so surprised to see this aging woman when I still feel like the girl standing beside me.
Have an awesome week!
hugs
I will turn 70 next year and I wonder where all the days went! This weekend, my husband and I removed all the screens on our patio and replaced them, after the storm tore them apart. I still think I can do the things that I could when I was young, but after doing them, I realize that I am not a young girl anymore! Have a great week, birthday girl!
What a lovely post! and Happy Birthday! I still think I am a young girl until I look in the mirror and see a middle aged women looking back a me! But we can always be young at heart and spirit!
Happy belated birthday! Sounds like you had an amazing time. I just turned 50 and feel pretty good for my age. I actually like being older and wiser.
Your zinnias are beautiful and so is your lovely vase. Glad you were treated like queen for a day for your birthday. I understand your feelings completely.
You're only as old as you think you are...though my body says otherwise! I'm glad you had a wonderful birthday and that you opened your eyes to the beauty that is present at every age!
Kat :)
Lovely post and zinnias! Happy belated birthday, cher! Sounds like it was wonderful! Keep twirling that baton and remember that 60 is the new 50!:)
Well, Happy Belated Birthday! I know what you mean- I don't know how old you are but I turned 60 and I have never felt old (still don't)...but the body belies me sometimes. I see wrinkles instead of smooth skin and sag where there used to be firmness. It is amazing to me to get out of bed and see that I am no longer YOUNG! How can that be when I still FEEL young? But, my little SweetCheeks says it best...she says...YOU are an OLD, Nana! And, so I am, to her...but to me..I will be forever 21-light in step and spirit! Chin up, old girl...we aren't getting old we are just switching gears~ xxoo Diana
What a great entry and one I needed to read. I've really never thought too much about my birthdays, but seems I'm really giving my next one a whole lot of thought. I'll be 59 in July and it's hitting me a bit harder than any other. But, hey, I'm going to open my eyes and enjoy the day! Have a joy filled week my friend and another great year of life!
Oh, I know. Happy Birthday!
Brenda
what a great post. beautiful and also so true. happy, happy birthday to you!
I've been looking for this to share with you:
http://windling.typepad.com/blog/2011/05/goblins-and-coffee.html
Pertinent quote: When I lived in my last house, Weaver's Cottage, I had a wise and lovely neighbor in her 90s who once said to me: "The thing about growing older, dear, is that you don't ever stop being the age you were, you just add each new age to it. So I never envy the young, because I'm still twenty years old myself, and thirty, and forty, and so on. By the time you're my age, you have so many selves to be, and draw upon, and enjoy, that I can only feel compassion for young people, who still have so very few."
Lovely, isn't it? And happy birthday.
I so desperately needed this comment today. I'm weepy. I had to stop myself for a moment with your comment "twirling a baton, leading an imaginary band in the yard". That is so me - my thinking. I have always lived in a world of imagination and I was just thinking as I was trying unsuccessfully to find sleep last night, that I have to sometimes quit my wishing for 16 or living in my mind as if it were so, and just embrace today. To others, it seems like I do that, but only I know otherwise.
Thank you for your poignant post - I needed it.
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