Corona Chronicles: Missive 12

Well, it's happened.  I've turned 40. 

So this is what oldness feels like.  I am suddenly aware of all my bones and sometimes I strongly consider foot placement before I take a step in slippery conditions.  (Apparently, I've started using phrases like "slippery conditions.") I have strong cravings for nap time and warm drinks and just avoiding all the fuss of a night out in favor of a quiet evening at home.  Actually, looking back at what I just wrote, it seems like I bypassed 40 and headed straight to 80.

But it's true: growing older makes you take stock.  (Growing older while on lockdown during a national pandemic makes you take stock while you stock up on toilet paper and Fantastic disinfectant spray, but that's a story for a different time.)  

I can look back twenty years and see the take-charge, nothing-I-can't-do girl who graduated college a few months before 9/11, after an internship at NBC during the 2000 Presidential election, contemplating a career in law or public affairs before one terrible day caused a shift inward, and a career choice closer to home and family and the innocence we lost.  I can look back 10 years ago and see myself as the confident and assured special-ed/preschool teacher I became, and as a new wife standing on the cusp of motherhood, having NO idea what lay ahead.  And I can reflect on the last 10 years, becoming a mother to my 5 beautiful babies, buying a home, and starting from scratch in my career again as I left education to build a business with my sister [story of smashing success coming soon].  

I see what I've accomplished and what I have left on my to-do list (I refuse to use the term "bucket list," tyvm), and I'm gratified to find that it is long, with much left to achieve.  I want to contribute more to my community, raise kind, moral children to adulthood, and of course, build up this business to reflect mine and my sister's goals.

And though my age-appropriate reading material now may skew closer to AARP than Seventeen Magazine, I'm going to hold fast to the spirit of youth, fabulously accessorizing myself as I go, and accomplish great things in the future!  What's your Coronavirus/Age Milestone/General Life Accomplishment? 

What is on your list that is still to come?  Tell us in the comments and let's cheer each other on!