18,250 (+60) Days of Being a Woman- Fifties so far

On the two monthivarsay of turning 50(!) (that number still seems too incredulous to accurately denote my age, lol), I thought I'd finish out my 18,250 Days of Being a Woman series. In these posts, I highlighted and lowlighted the events in various decades of my life. 

I wrote about the early years and my twenties here.

I wrote about my thirties here.

I wrote about my forties here.

Now that I'm two months in, I'll share some thoughts:

First of all, it's been an eventful two months. I would imagine that most two month time periods in the future won't be so chock full of memorable (in good ways…) activities; I am fine with either! I am taciturn by nature, not an adventure seeker, and am a homebody so low key living is good by me. But I do like to celebrate special times and make memories with loved ones.

Here is what has happened in the past two months: (I blogged about each of these so I won't beleaguer the points.)

Jacob graduated from college!  And found a job!! He actually received a job offer last summer after performing so well in what he thought was just going to be a summer time gig. We could not be more proud of him.

Abby received an Excellence in French Award at her college and we live close enough to her school that I was able to attend the departmental awards ceremony. In addition to that, she received perfect grades her second semester of school and made the President's list for having grades in the top 3% of her class. If one could literally burst with pride, I would be open, lol. 

We got to experience the fun and excitement of Alyssa going to prom for the first time. 

Miss Social Butterfly went on two trips with friends all within a three week time period! The day that school ended, she went with a friend and her family to Lake Norris in Tennessee for several days and then about two weeks later, she went to Kiawah Island, South Carolina with some friends.

We celebrated Mother's Day with my mother in law and family. We went out to lunch and later took a walk in a beautiful park.

We celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary and my honey shaved off his facial hair for me! We celebrated it in the most low key, "us" kind of way: dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then we watched Netflix while indulging in ice cream. Hey, it was full fat ice cream. Are we living on the edge or what???

I was planning on going to Canada in early June to support my sister who organized an intricate fundraising gala for a great cause. I didn't get to go- such is life BUT I was still able to help the cause. Helping the cause entailed being the high bidder in the online silent auction for the event of two chocolate themed baskets. My sister has the baskets just a waiting for me to pick them up. She said that I won't believe how much chocolate is in the two baskets combined.  I am ready for my world to be rocked via my chocolate cache which means that I have to get to Canada soon!

Abby and I headed to New Jersey for an adventure: adventures so far include sight seeing and concert going. So fun to make memories with my Abs!

As for the rest of the decade: who knows, besides God? One poignant thing about this decade for me is that it's the decade that my dad got sick and died. I mean to say that my dad got sick and died in his fifties. In his early fifties- he was fifty two to be exact when he was diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gerhig's disease. If you know anything about it, you know that it's not a good way to go. 

I pray every day that neither I nor my siblings get diagnosed with this disease. It's a death sentence absent a miracle. Coming on close to the age that my dad was when he was diagnosed, it's something I can't help but think and pray about it. No one wants to be diagnosed with anything terminal: it's in our nature to want to live. But of course death is inevitable.  One thing I pray in addition to not getting the disease is that if I do get it, that I will live out my life faithfully to the end and not become bitter. 

I think I mentioned this before but the head pastor of our church is experiencing a health crisis. He's been updating people on his Caring Bridge site and something he wrote recently really resonated with me. (I don't think he'd mind me quoting him- hopefully not!) He wrote:

"Throughout my Christian life, I have thanked God for the many ways he has blessed me with a healthy, active life, and I was determined to never blame God if something happened to me. Also, I believe in the fallen world that we live: decay, disease and death are not God's original desire for his created world." He goes on but I'll stop quoting him there. His attitude about sickness is exactly mine.

If I were to find out tomorrow that I was dying of ALS or any disease for which there is no cure, I hope that after registering shock and yes, sadness, I would say, well wasn't I lucky to live for fifty years and two months so blessed and healthy? 

Hopefully I'll receive no terrifying diagnosis in the future or be hit by a proverbial bus and I'll have lots of time to make memories and make the world (even if it's just my quite small world) a better place.