Seasoned is the New Old

I returned from Nashville on Tuesday. I am officially 40 and I feel like I am still 39.  I can’t help but think about how 22 years ago, I met my bestie and have remained close.  So close that there isn’t a thing that I wouldn’t tell her!  And she the same.  She is definitely  Thelma to my Louise. We even commemorated the anniversary of the movie with a selfie of ourselves. I am on the left, she is on the right…it isn’t exactly how we wanted it to turn out, but the sentiment is there!!

I don’t plan on boring you with detailed pictures but  I had to share this one.

This, my friends, is an adult beverage that I enjoyed on Music Row.  We had this bad boy at a Moonshine Bar!  Yes a Moonshine Bar! Bootleggers Inn to be exact!  It was a Watermelon Moonshine Margarita. And it went down smooth. Too smooth.  Music Row was awesome. But I easily felt too “old” for the scene.  40 is such an odd age for finding nightlife.

One of the best things that happened on my trip was that I learned a little something about myself.

1. I have become too old to worry about somethings.  It is more of a state of maturity.  It is  almost like a right of passage.
2. Life is going to constantly be crazy.  My kind of crazy. No two lives are the same crazy.  There will always be crisis.  Now I don’t mean life threatening, chaotic turmoil type of crisis.  But a crisis of forgetting to pay a bill, or the electrical in the car has gone out, the dog has a yeast infection in his ears, again.  Things will always come up that will add to the crazy in my life.
3. This refers back to the first one.  I am not about to chase anyone down and beg for friendship.  Sometimes you need to accept that no matter what you say or do, people are just going to walk out of your life.  I have learned that not everyone is going to stick around for every season in my life.
4. I refuse to apologize for being me.  I curse like trucker. I am loud.  My house is far from being uncluttered.  I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up.  I am the mom that lets her 10-year-old dye the crown of her hair pink because it is summer.  I love dressing in loud, bright colors.  My office at work looks like a butterfly garden with wind chimes and wall art that is about loving one another.  It is who I am.  Take it or leave it.
5. And finally,  I need to share my experiences with others; to the ones not so seasoned yet.  That is how I have gained wisdom. I learned from the previous generation and learning from my mistakes.  I learned to leave the past but kept the lessons.  We should never keep our wisdom that we have gained for ourselves.  When we share, we also continue to grow.

I am a well seasoned person.  40 has opened my eyes and my heart to so much more than I thought possible!  And while this is just the beginning of the next decade of life, it is absolutely one of the happiest and fulfilling starts. I love my life, with the chaos, with the crisis, with the love and with the laughter.  I love my seasoned crazy.

Stay Crazy!

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