This Age.

Ryder and I are the same age, apparently.

He in dog years and me in people years.

We’re both fans of slow moving and it seems like we spend our days switching from one spot to the next throughout the house. He to rest and nap and me to write and read and work.

I went out to eat recently with a few friends.

The light was dim, but not that dim. The words on the menu were small, but not that small.

And guess what?

I could not read them.

Literally could not see the descriptions. I either had to guess or ask my friend.

A few days after that I attended church. Sat by another friend. In order to take notes, she pulled out her glasses and put them on. I laughed and felt like I was in good company. That night I went to Target and purchased another pair of reading glasses – this pair to leave in my bag so I’ll have them at restaurants and such.

Fine. That’s who I am now.

A person with glasses throughout the house and now in the my bag and in my car.

While I don’t exactly have any affection for needing help to read or feeling that helplessness that comes from not being able to see actual words where last year I could, I am grateful to be the exact age I am.

There are some truths I am seeing – places I may never visit, accomplishments I may never achieve. Who knows. But also. Confidence in what I bring to the table. The ability to say no and to not look back. A lack of desire to waste my time on what holds no meaning. A clearer definition of what does hold meaning for me.

Those are the good parts of aging. Those are the laugh lines and the soft spaces I have earned.

What are the surprises you have found out about yourself as you age?

What do you love about the You now vs. the You twenty years ago?

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