by Maggie Goins

Created on: July 06, 2008

What I can't figure out is how I can be 60 now, when I was 21 only yesterday.

Do I really have grown sons, daughter-in-laws? Have I truly been with the same man for
38 years? Am I actually a grandmother? I am, and I couldn't be happier about it all.

I've been 60 since March. I had no idea how I would accept it, but it was as if I tried
on a new coat, and it really fit. At the risk of sounding too trite, I feel better about

myself now than I ever have. Ever. It isn't that I've never been happy. Of course,
I've had some wonderful times in my life: graduating from college and becoming a
registered nurse, getting married, having my babies, earning a black belt in kung fu,
seeing the births of my grandchildren. The difference now is within me.

Always and forever, I have been under the constant impression that I would never be good
enough, attractive enough, smart enough, brave enough. I kept the training wheels on my
life-bike and stayed safely in my mind's own yard. It truly does take most of a lifetime
for some of us to 'get it' that we are only as good as we let ourselves become. Today's
life coaches are right. You need to get the heck out of your own way. The training
wheels are off now, and my mind and I are in places I didn't ever expect to find us. I
didn't suddenly change, I just figured out at 60 what is really important for me to know.

*I have an absolute right to my beliefs and feelings. It doesn't matter one tiny bit if
everyone around me disagrees. I don't have to change my mind. Being true to myself has
made me stronger.

*I am not, not will I ever be, perfect. Not perfect looking, perfect acting, perfect
performing. This will not keep me from learning something completely new or changing my
direction when I want to. I am perfectly happy to know I'm doing the best I can with it
all. I know my limitations, too, and have accepted them. Anyone who is unable to do the
same, well, that isn't my problem, my friend. It's yours.

*There are good, helpful people everywhere, and I can't always recognize them by their
life-costumes. I am able now to meet anyone on level ground, without being afraid, until
I learn differently. I am good and helpful, too. I don't keep that fact to myself.

*My dreams will never come true without me waking up and getting to work on them. I may
not have my whole life before me now, but I do, with good fortune, have a large chunk of
it left. I will move forward until my body folds in on itself and my brain shrinks to
the size of a California raisin.

So, what am I doing with all this?

*I am facing each day as a new opportunity, another chance, and try to do much better
where I messed up. Making a mistake isn't wrong, not learning from it is.

*Spending time with any or all of my three grandchildren is too good to miss, even when
I'm as tired as a 60-year-old woman. I learn from them, and am soothed yet stimulated.
Seeing the world through their eyes restores the magic that threatens to disappear with
growing up.

*I am chasing publication of my novels. It can happen. If it doesn't, it will not be
because I didn't try with all my might, but because I plain ran out of time.

*My mind and body are doing everything they are able. If you see me sitting on a porch in a
rocking chair, I will most likely have a computer on my lap or a small child with a book.

Today, there are many of us who have reached this point. My 60 is a whole new chapter in
my life. How is it going for you?

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