This blog is written specifically to all of you lovelies ages 40 and up. However, if you fall under this age group, please continue reading. There's nothing better than having knowledge of what's ahead. Okay, so this weekend I'm doing the soccer mom thing and travel up to Williams College in Massachusetts with my husband and daughter to see my son play. It was a four hour drive from my home in New Jersey and to be perfectly honest, I was not looking forward to the drive.
But then we got off the New York Thruway and started down all these two lane county roads. Can I tell you, it proved to one of the most delicious servings of eye candy I've had in a long time. Between the blue sky, flame colored leaves, the crisp fall air and every now and again the whiff of burning wood, topped off with my favorite iPod playlist, this trip had become a truly sensory delight.
Be assured, there is no better artist than Mother Nature.
Anyway, I am in complete awe and silent rapture as I am taking in all of this breathtaking loveliness, and then my husband says, "It's too bad they look the best right before they're going to die." To which my daughter says, "I know, the leaves really do get prettier as they get older."
I didn't say a word because I'm in my seat thinking, I'm like those trees--vibrant, colorful, and beautiful standing out among the evergreens. I didn't verbalize my thoughts because one, they wouldn't understand, and two, this was a deep and important 'ah ha' moment. It was a quiet declaration that I needed to acknowledge and internalize in order to fuel my fabulosity into this next stage of my life.
If you read this blog, you know that I turned fifty five months ago. And though I've been pretty cool about it, I've had my moments of 'damn, I'm old.' Well, this weekend, among all that lovely fiery foliage I made peace with the fact that I am indeed in the autumn of my life. And you know what? I'm totally fine with it. True my body now has more in common with my senior mother than my teenage daughter, and true I've had to reduce my four inch heel time from 'all day, everyday' to time 'on the cocktail circuit' but those spring chicken accouterments pale in comparison to the bevy of beautiful smarts I've garnered through these first two seasons of my life.
My leaves may not be that young, fresh to the world green any more, but that's okay, my spirit is and that's what keeps me full of curiosity and gives me my sense of adventure. And now my limbs may be a little less springlike, but are still bursting full of character and uniqueness. I don't have to hide in the forest anymore because I'm uncertain of who I am or what the world may think of me. I stand out among the trees because I am comfortable in my colorfulness and gorgeous sense of self. Little saplings, that's the great thing about being grown and fabulous flora: With age comes wisdom and the confidence of knowing that being yourself can never be wrong.
And being the fine fall foliage I am, I am not about to get caught up in the 'if I only knew then what I know now' regret. That's a pile of crap. I'm going to look back on the spring and summer seasons of my life and bid them a fond farewell, relish the memories I can remember (LOL) and take everything I know now and create some absolutely scandalous, girl-can-you-believe-I-did-that-wouldn't-change-a-thing, new memories.
So, my fellow fall femmes, you know that saying, "Can't see the forest for the trees?" Well, that's us. We're the trees, busy living our colorful and vibrant autumns out loud while the rest of the forest stays green with envy!
What do you think?
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