I seriously ask myself everyday the question, “What happened?”
I used to have so much energy. Pulling an all nighter studying, reading, or just talking to my friends was nothing. Getting up early was no problem, and I didn’t need coffee to make it to midday. Swimming was part of my life. The high school swim team took up a lot of my time. I was quite busy growing up, and I never complained.
Fast forward some years, sorry I am not giving my age away… we’ll just say that I graduated from high school over ten years ago… Coffee is my best friend. There is no way that I could imagine functioning in the morning without at least one, oh who am I kidding, four cups of coffee. No joke, it’s so bad that even my daughter knows “No Talkie before Coffee.”
My nights go a little like this::
Get my daughter off to bed. Clean up a little bit. By 8:45 pm, I get to enjoy downtime with my husband. Yet, by 9 pm, I am usually asleep.
My husband will try to wake me up to get me to go to bed, but I usually respond with “I’m not sleeping, I was simply resting my eyes.” His response is, “You weren’t snoring either.” {Of course I don’t snore, I simply breathe loudly through my nose.}
When I was younger I colored my hair all sorts of crazy colors, and never worried about the damage being done. My younger self’s hair grew back pretty fast if I needed to cut it. I could cut it Mandy Moore short if I chose to, so I did. Maybe tried out the Aniston, but I was never really a fan of her hairstyle. Don’t get mad.
Now, I don’t really know how long my hair is. I usually wear my hair in a side braid or bun. The greys are starting to pop through. But you know what? I am learning to like it.
My silver hair means that I have earned some wisdom. Wisdom that the fresh face teen I used to be didn’t have. Those pesky crows feet that are slowly growing by my eyes, well I have laughed a lot.
My energy level isn’t where it used to be, but I am choosing to age gracefully. I am choosing, everyday, to like where my body has taken me and what is left for it to do. Of course, I have days where I long for the body I had during the teenage years, but you know what? My body carried a baby and brought a life into the world! I may have more curves, more grey hair and less supple skin, but I am happy with it. Well, honestly as happy as I can be.