Mid-Life

A friend sent this to me this morning.

I've seen two shows lately that went on and on about how mid-life is a great time for women. Just last week Oprah had a whole show on how great menopause will be . . Puhl eeeeee eze! I've had a few thoughts of my own and would like to share them with you. Whether you are pushing 40, 50, 60 (or maybe even just pushing your luck), you'll probably relate.

Mid-life is when the growth of hair on our legs slows down. This gives us plenty of time to care for our newly acquired mustache.

In mid-life women no longer have upper arms, we have wing spans. We are no longer women in sleeveless shirts, we are flying squirrels in drag.

Mid-life is when you can stand naked in front of a mirror and you can see your rear without turning around.

Mid-life is when you go for a mammogram and you realize that this is the only time someone will ask you to appear topless.

Mid-life is when you want to grab every firm young lovely in a tube top and scream, "Listen honey, even the Roman empire fell and those will too."

Mid -life brings wisdom to know that life throws us curves and we're sitting on our biggest ones.

Mid-life is when you look at your know-it-all, beeper-wearing teenager and think: "For this I have stretch marks?"

In mid-life your memory starts to go. In fact the only thing we can retain is water.

Mid-life means that your Body By Jake now includes Legs By Rand McNally -- more red and blue lines than an accurately scaled map of Wisconsin.

Mid-life means that you become more reflective . . . You start pondering the "big" questions. What is life? Why am I here? How much Healthy Choice ice cream can I eat before it's no longer a healthy choice?

But mid-life also brings with it an appreciation for what is important. We realize that breasts sag, hips expand and chins double, but our loved ones make the journey worthwhile. Would any of you trade the knowledge that you have now, for the body you had way back when? Maybe our bodies simply have to expand to hold all the wisdom and love we've acquired. That's my philosophy and I'm stick ing to it!

Today - Everything Else is Trivial

This morning, two minutes before the alarm was to go off, I woke up. Turned the alarm off (no need to hear THAT) and turned on the 5:00am news. The first story I heard was was killed last evening on his motorcycle in the Village of Camillus. This man is someone I work(ed) with. A person I went to often to ask questions, validate my interpretation of a network system situation. He was patient, he took time to explain things. He was so knowledgeable. A kind, gentleman with a sense of humor. He was 30 years old.

The accident was literally in my backyard. I hear the emergency sounds all the time to the point that I probably don't hear all of them. This one I remembered. This one I heard the sound before the actual "scream" from the fire station that someone needed help. I remember last night thinking "this one is awfully close." and "I've heard the crew working for a while." Why did I notice this one?

Words cannot describe the loss, the sadness the disbelief my fellow colleagues and I feel today. I do not know his wife. How sad I will meet her at the calling hours.