๐ˆ๐“'๐’ ๐Œ๐˜ ๐-๐ƒ๐€๐˜! ๐–๐‡๐˜ ๐ˆ'๐Œ ๐„๐—๐‚๐ˆ๐“๐„๐ƒ ๐€๐๐Ž๐”๐“ ๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐’ ๐Ž๐๐„! (AND THIS ONE DOESN'T EVEN END IN 0!)

Coach Lynette gave me this card for my b-day, and I think it is PERFECT! Funny, sassy, and ridiculously retro! This community is special for sure!! THANK YOU!!

Believe it or not, Iโ€™m super excited about turning 51!

That might sound strange in a culture obsessed with youth.

Women are often told that aging is bad, that we shouldnโ€™t say our age out loud, and that we should do everything in our power to look younger.

๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ, ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฆ๐š๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ž ๐›๐ข๐ซ๐ญ๐ก๐๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ.

๐Ÿ’” Last year, turning 50 was a huge milestone for me.

You see, turning fifty was so much more than celebrating a new decade.

๐€๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐š๐ ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐Ÿ“๐ŸŽ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ก๐ฌ ๐š๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ž๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐š๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐œ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ซ.

After a short, two-month battle, he passed away. His death rattled me for years.

I think of him often:

โœจ When we moved into our home, I imagined how much he would have loved working on projects with my husband.

โœจ When my kids were born, I wished he could have held them, played with them, and cheered them on at their sports events and recitals.

So when I turned 50 last year, I celebrated BIG with a โ€˜70s-themed karaoke party. ๐ŸŽค๐ŸŽถ

My friends showed upโ€”dressed to impress, singing their hearts out, making me feel so loved and grateful.

๐Ÿ’ช Now, at 51, I still feel amazing.

โœ”๏ธ Yes, I have wrinklesโ€”growing up on Rhode Island beaches will do that! ๐ŸŒŠ

โœ”๏ธ Yes, I have silver hairโ€”and I love it! (Screw hair dye! ๐Ÿ˜†) It doesnโ€™t scream old, it screams natural and confident.

โœ”๏ธ Yes, I feel strongโ€”a balance of strength, mobility, and energy that allows me to say YES to the adventures I want to take.

๐Œ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐š๐ญ ๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ, ๐ˆ ๐š๐ฆ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐จ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ ๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐ž.

๐“๐ก๐š๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ.

๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ , ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฉ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ฌ.

But instead of sadness, I am profoundly thankful. ๐Ÿ™ Thankful all of it.

๐‡๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฆ๐š๐๐ž ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐ž ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒโ€”๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐š๐๐ž ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ, ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ค๐ฅ๐ž, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ.

๐ŸŽฏ Your Turn!

Aging isnโ€™t just about getting olderโ€”itโ€™s about living. ๐Ÿ’ซ So, tell me:

๐Ÿ‘‰ ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ appreciate ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ž๐ซ?

๐Ÿ‘‰ ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐š๐ ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฆ๐š๐๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ซ, ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ, ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐Ÿ๐ข๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ?โœจ

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fitness, beauty, lifestyle, womens health, wellnessJulie Bailis