This week’s Tuesday Topic: Tell us why you’re thankful for running this year! You can write about this topic or feel free to post any running related blog post. Remember to link up with Kim and Zenaida! Visit at least two of the other linked posts – the more the merrier! Remember to come back for later linkers!
I am deviating from this week’s topic to write about this past Sunday when I turned 50. I wasn’t planning to do anything for my birthday but at the last minute decided to have a small gathering/dinner with family at Home Run Inn Pizza. We had a good time. We ate, talked, and laughed.
The weekend was full of emotions and thoughts. Let me share them with you.
🎂 Really, 50 is just a number. I do not feel “older”. Society has us believing that 50 is old.
🎂 My mother remembers when she turned 50. I have a vague memory of that day. She mentioned that she didn’t think she would live long enough to see us turn 50. I told her that she has one more child to turn 50.
🎂 Being 50 brings me closer to retirement. I am giving myself 10-11 more years to work. I cannot see myself being in my 60s and still being a classroom teacher. Teaching is hard now and with the way things are going, it will get even more difficult. Plus, I will not have the patience to deal with kids.
🎂 I hope I can travel more. I did a lot of traveling in my 30s and in my 40s. My last trip was a race in Atlanta in 2020.
🎂 Sometimes I compare myself to others that are the same age as I am. I know I shouldn’t do this but I cannot help it. Many people I know are married and/or with kids. Sometimes I feel left out or that I am missing out. Sometimes I feel as if I am not succeeding in life. I know it is absolutely ridiculous! I shouldn’t feel this way because not every woman is supposed to get married and/or have kids.
🎂 I am grateful that I am healthy and I hope I stay that way for a long time. I look at my mother and all of her complications due to diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Well, it is mostly diabetes that has caused the most complications for her. Deep down I hope I do not require as much assistance as my mother.
🎂 During my run on Sunday I thought back to how I celebrated when I turned 10, 20, 30, and 40. Well, I have no recollection when I turned 10. For 20, I was in college. It was then that I learned the term “Golden Birthday”. For 30, I went to dinner with friends and I think to a club. That was what we used to do back in the day. For 40, I went to dinner with friends (again) and then played Bocce. It was my first and last time.
🎂 I am excited to see what this new decade will bring.
🎂 I never pictured that I will be living with my sister and taking care of my mother. Sometimes it is difficult. Sometimes it is fun. Sometimes I am resentful that I am in that situation. Does that make me a bad person? I remember years ago thinking that one day I would love to live in a condo close to the lakefront. Maybe when I retire I will.
Topic for next week – Free Topic. Feel free to write about any running related topic. We hope you’ll link up with us!
