Wednesday, June 01, 2011

ack.

Into every life a little milestone must fall. Right? Two weeks from today I will turn 50. The. Big. Five. Oh.

And in other news, I just sent the latest draft of my young adult manuscript to my agent in what felt like mile 26.1 of a marathon. Breathless and panting, I'm heading to the tent for refreshments. But because I'm turning 50, those refreshments will not contain gin. Nope, it's filtered water for moi--gonna watch the waistline. And the liver. And the brain cells.

I'm saving my drinking time for the upcoming onslaught of relations due to fly in Mary Poppins style for my daughter's graduation--which coincidentally corresponds with? Yep, the birthday.

It's odd, this 50th birthday thing. It feels like a paradigm shift. I'm anticipating that at any moment, my teeth will disintegrate and bunions will bloom. I need a new storyline. My self-concept needs to realign, y'know? Instead of the spacey mop-top girl, I'm now the dotty senior with spectacles dangling on my bosom from a chain. Once an ingenue, I've become Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote.

And yet, oddly, I feel the creative furnace more acutely than ever. The Empress Chronicles, now in its third round of revision, feels solid and full-term.

Ah, the ever-reassessing spreadsheet of the late bloomer. Anybody out there as old as me? Got some advice? (Sage, or otherwise.)

4 comments:

  1. First - happy upcoming birthday. Second - I get what you're saying about the paradigm shift, but isn't it kind of cool how 50 feels different than you expected? Third - I'm five years behind you, but I got asked if I wanted the senior discount today at the grocery store. I didn't lie. I didn't cry. I may have had an early in the day drink.

    Congrats on getting that manuscript finished!

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  2. Thanks, Lisa! Senior discount my ass! And speaking of ass, I'm in week three of an ass-kicking fitness bootcamp thing I grouponed on a lark. (Yet another "I'm turning 50" impulse purchase). 3 mornings a week at 6:30 a.m. I'm listening to the thump-thump-thump of music that makes me want to rip my skin off--but maybe that's the point--and why there's this big fat punching bag I'm smacking and kicking for an hour.

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  3. That's great! I really should do a boot camp to get myself in high gear, but I hate to cry in public.

    Keep up the good work and let me know if it's worth it. I love boxing. It's great for my aggression issues.

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  4. happy birthday and congrats. FINISHED. what a birthday gift to give yourself?!

    i have no advice to give (i show up here to steal it from you!)

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