Sandi, Age 70
My mother always said, “I don’t feel old on the inside.” The older I get, the more I understand this. The granddaughter of immigrants, the daughter of a disabled father, the first female in the extended family to go to college… I’ve had opportunities women in my family before me did not have. Yet, I still was unaware of what was out here when I left home for college. Life pushed me to change careers, more than once. A surprise divorce after 25 years, an unexpected second marriage that ended with my loving husband in home hospice, moving to my seventh state at 67, and many other experiences made me who I am by how I accepted them (or not!).
My only, dear child lives 3,000 miles away but I don’t feel a loss of family because the special women friends I made on my life journey sustain me. It’s the women who are always there — though new life, death, unbearable sorrow, and indescribable joy.
I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel at 70. My body has betrayed me but I’m still here, laughing, enjoying, learning. I’ll keep this up as long as I can. I just came back from a cooking class in Italy. I’d never been to Italy! I’m eating on my “good” dishes and drinking bubbly out of my nicest glasses. I finally live for today.