Now That I'm Fifty!!

Hello my extraordinary friends. Hope this day finds you doing well! I'd like to share a lil poem I wrote and entered into a contest. Let me know if you can relate to it. Please share, it's called:
                                       Now That I'm Fifty

Now that I'm fifty and my hair's turning gray
My thinking has changed in acceptable ways.

I used to think fifty was nearing the end
Now I'm thinking fifty is where you begin.

When I was sixteen fifty seemed a hundred years away
Now that I'm fifty, sixteen seems but as yesterday

No longer do I look at people of fifty as old
Cuz Im looking pretty good for fifty I'm told

Age they say is a state of mind that you're in
So it seems every state of the union I've been
And now that I'm done I'd like to do them again!

But life teaches us many things as we age
Things we cant find in books at the turn of a page
And now its the performance of us that they gage

They say looking back and hindsight is twenty twenty
No truer words spoken cause back then I could see plenty!

So over fifty and extraordinary I'd rather like to think
Cause I know tomorrow fifty will seem but a blink!!

At sixteen my thinking was always kinda wifty
Now I'm thinking I'm just nifty after fifty!!!

What do you think??!
Just a lil something I wanted to share. Hope you find it amusing!!!

Companionship

One is a lonely number. To be in good company is a wonderful thing. People with others in their life to love promotes longevity.  My extraordinary friends, unfortunately, for a lot of us over fifty we find ourselves alone.  Due to circumstances beyond our control, whether  we are divorced or have been widowed abandoned etc.. After having spent a lifetime with someone we may be plagued with the decision to remarry or find suitable companionship. This is a tough decision, as others we love may be affected by the choice we make. Tough or not it is a personal decision . We cannot deprive oneself of our god given right. We cannot always expect others to fulfill us, we must fulfill our self.  But for the sake of our own happiness we must make a wise choice. Choosing a companion that will be beneficial to us will come easier if we apply the lessons life has taught us. Now that  we have reached the age of  extraordinary wisdom and knowledge, making good choices will come easier. It's not good for the man to continue by himself . I will make a helper for him so says the bible. Why? To complete him it goes on to say. It's normal and part of our natural makeup to want to be with someone. So my dear friends, if any of you are struggling with this decision, think of your own personal needs and not what others need of you. At this age of your life, you no doubt have made a lot of personal sacrifices for others.  Its time to put your needs first place in your life.  The decision should be what makes you happy. Not that you should not take others into consideration but your feelings should be primary.  I know in particular, adult children with widowed parents after many years of marriage to the same mate have a difficult time accepting a new love interest in the life of their parent. This is selfish. So talk to your family member, let them know how you feel. Ask for their acceptance and understanding. But at the same time follow your heart with courage and confidence. Bring back the joy you can have with a companion. Or should it be your choice to remain alone, let it be just that, your own choice.  It doesn't mean that you wont be happy, your contentment may be found in the gift of singleness.  So choose what's suits you best in your own time table. Be  not judged by others. Life is for the living, enjoy it!

DREAM ON!

Hello my extraordinary friends!!  Hope this day finds you doing something you have very much wanted to do for a long time. If so that would mean you are experiencing a dream come true. Who says dreams are for the very young?  I don't know who, but I say dreams are for the living . Never stop dreaming.  As long as we are alive we should continue to dream. After all they are just a series of thoughts or visions we imagined we had or would like to have. Sometimes as we age we have a tendency to say forget it.  We let go of our own aspirations or strong desires to achieve  something  great. Why? Because negative forces convinces us that's it's to late or no use in trying.  Have you ever noticed that as soon as we do, someone  or something else enters in our world and stops us from our own personal initiative to fill our time and energy with their own. Yes, that's right we let go of our own passions to fulfill the passion of others. For some reason it's human nature to just give up.  We cannot and should not allow others to make us mentally lazy. We cant become indifferent about the things we have always wanted to do or become. As long as there is life there is hope.  How does the saying go: "If the mind can conceive it, you can achieve it." If the thought still enters your mind, then the opportunity still exists for it to be accomplished. All it takes is a little continued determination to push on. Don't let go of your dreams because they can still become real. An unfulfilled dream is different from a dream forgotten.  Don't be apathetic toward self. I say that to say, I've always wanted to be a writer, a published author. Life has taught me that I am the only one truly and  with a real interest in anything I really want out of life. Some people are polite if they should know, but they don't really care if my life dream happens to me or not. When our circumstances change in life our dreams don't have to go. Remember again where there's life there remains hope. I now although over fifty and extraordinary stand at the threshold of becoming a published author of a children's book. A life long dream about to become a reality.  And the one who will have the most satisfaction from this accomplishment is going to be me.  I just wanted to share that. There have been lots of hurdles along the way.  We have to continue to self motivate. Our hopes and dreams need to be self reliant. So whatever it is you have always wanted to do, don't give up the dream!!  If you have always wanted to speak a foreign language, travel, become something, try something new, remember as long as you dream you keep hope alive. Although it's true and we know that some dreams will never be fulfilled.  Life is life, live it to the fullest and to the very end. So from age zero to over fifty and extraordinary  DREAM ON!!" If you agree with this blog share it!!

Decision's

Decisions, Decisions, always one to make. The making of them will forever exist. Some you only have to ponder for a moment. Others for a lifetime. Every decision we make affect our life in one way or another either for the good or for the bad. As an over fifty and extraordinary person, what have I learned about the decision making process is that the importance of a decision should be considered before the decision is made. As I reflect back, there were some I should have given a lot more thought. Some should have been given prayerful consideration. And then I recall those that I put too much time and thinking in that didn't really matter. Life has also taught me that indecision is just as bad as making a wrong decision. Decisions must be made carefully, with the proper amount of fore thought. But they must be made. Indecisiveness leads to insecurities. This is an age old dilemma, Shakespeare once pondered the question: To be or not to be, that is the question. If we live a lifetime of this, it can rob us of our mental stability and cause us to be fearful lacking confidence. And unfortunately as we age the decisions we must make become more of a serious nature because they involve our health or our residence, finances, etc. Yes, I've found as we age, believe it or not that the decisions we are required to make are much more complicated. So its important the we (extraordinary people)after all these years learn the art of decision making. Learning this art we will fare much better. Lead a less stressful life. We will become stronger and more emotionally confident.  Acquiring this decision making habit will allow us to face head on the things we must and not put off. When we put serious decision making off, we can suffer more serious consequences in the long run. There was a saying and I quote" when you think long you think wrong." Now some things do require a lot of thinking, but the point is there is an appropriate amount of time to the decision making process for whatever it is.  I have a friend who put off the decision of having hip surgery for fifteen years. It was always talked about, visited several surgeons got a few different opinions but never made a sound decision and continually put it on the back burner because she couldn't decide, only now to face unavoidable and must have surgery with the prognosis far worse than she was given ten years or even five years ago.  If you all remember one of my previous blogs on having regrets. How we need to learn to live with as few as possible is good advice to consider.  So my dear friends, even in the face of fear, pray for courage and decide affirmatively how you will do things. And I think you will find what I have found that once the decision is made you will feel, think and be a lot better off. Don't forever limp on two opinions. Life and time is precious. You will be so happy you did.

Being Brilliant

The dictionary defines it as great ability or magnificent. How can we define brilliance in relation to intelligence? What does it take to be brilliant? How many of us will achieve brilliance ? After we become over 50 and extraordinary? It's possible. As long as we live we learn. Believe it or not , not many of us can claim to be brilliant.  Or should I reword that and say , how many of us will act with brilliance as we age? Even with age on our side many of us may have not led a brilliant lifestyle or will ever. But now alas we have brilliant thinking ability. Is it too late to become brilliant people? It's never to late for anything, the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. We are now mentors, we can teach our young to be brilliant. This they can easily accomplish, all it takes is a listening ear. With that they can live a life of ease. It is  just that simple. This opportunity is open to everyone. Not just those who can afford something better. The kind of brilliance that can give us all equality. Is that even possible?  It's been said that the smarter you are the better off you will be.  What kind of smarts?  Book knowledge? But I'm not talking about higher education. I'm talking about the education that living a life on a day to day basis teaches each one of us. Kinda like common sense, something that's known by many, not a rare thing. But even today, its been said that common sense is not so common. This is because many choose to live by their own standards and not what is commonly acceptable.  True, life experiences of ourselves as well as others happen to us every minute of our lives. We hear of other's life experiences. Some are good and some are not so good. Do we learn from them?  We should, these are the very thing's that determine how brilliant we will be or become in the life that remains yet ahead of us. As extraordinary people, we must act with brilliance. No secular education can teach us what life does. My mother use to say"What I cant teach you life will." And this is the truth. So the next time you give your young some solid advice. Don't say"" Be smart", because smart people learn from their own mistakes. Rather, tell them to be brilliant. Because brilliant people learn from the mistakes of others. What a better way to learn a difficult lesson in life. This is the  type of brilliance we want to pass on!

Interruptions

Interruptions , doesn't it seem the older we get the more interruptions we seem to have of some sort? Just when we start thinking we are really on a role. When we think we got it all down, we have waited a long time, the kids are gone, we have a measure of freedom, time, finances in control and things are looking up, that's just when something else comes up that slows us down or sets us back, who would have ever thought?  I remember my mother used to say and I quote" Just when you think you have won the rat race somebody throws in another rat!" And Gilda Radner's grandmother used to say" It's always something." And no truer statements have ever been spoken. What lesson was she really trying to put across? My mother used to also say" What I cant teach you life will." I get it now,life has taught me so many things. How I wish I could tell her so, there are so many things I understand now. But what she never said is that I would be over 50 and extraordinary before I would be able too.  Maybe she herself didn't know. By now I have learned life is full of interruptions, setbacks, hindrance's. That's life, L-life I- interruptions, F-forever E-exist. Perhaps I learned this a long time ago and just never put it in perspective or accepted it.  I have to truly say I appreciate that wisdom does come with age, so in a sense we do get better as we age. And these things are just a part of life and will never go away as long as we live. There's only one way to cope with them is to accept them for what they are. Then continue on with our forward march. They are only temporary. We cant let them stop us from achieving some personal goal long awaited for. Some of these interruptions can last for years, like raising a family and meeting their needs even after having done so. We have to look beyond the interruption and see the end goal. Can't allow discouragement to make us give up.  I can speak from experience, I've waited a life time to publish a children's picture book and for the first time I am nearing that goal. I've had my set back and hindrances, one after another, but I'm on my way nearing the finish line! I can see it clearly. I am so excited, I cant wait to share it with you! So no matter what it is you have always wanted to do, don't give up, it is still there to be done, just waiting for you.  And if we move through this life, coping with the things it will always inevitably hand  us and accepting it as just a part of the big picture , only then will we be able to deal successfully with the interruptions until we are all satisfied with the goals we have set and achieved. Always remembering that once we have reached our goal that the interruptions are behind us and there is more Life ahead.
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Been Gone A While ! I'm Baaaack!!

Hello my dear Over Fifty and Extraordinary friends!!!,  I'm Baaack!!! Its been a while since my last post. I may have been gone but guys have not been forgotten. You have been on my mind daily. I have had to take care of some significant things that have kept me away from posting. I hope all is well with you and yours. I have certainly missed our little chats or blogs. My wishes are that you all are proceeding on in your plans whatever they may be. If you should experience some  or are having setbacks always remember that they are temporary. Just as they began , they will also end. This is a lesson we should have learned by now. Makes us unique in knowing that. Nothing good or bad last forever. I've learned the true meaning of due process. Everything in life involves a time element. I was just telling my Son the other day why patience is so important. It just helps us to deal with the things that must take place in their own time and being impatient does not speed up the process, but adds misery to the natural order of things as you wait it to run its course. So why add misery to something that may not be going as well as you like? Good question huh? I have lots of things to share and will do so in time as I gather my new thoughts together. I'd love to hear from you about whats been going on with you and what you would like to do. Please feel free to share. So I hope I haven't lost you because I have a lot more to share as it feels good to be back!!!