by Melody Hearndon

Created on: August 05, 2009

The adage that the numbers don't lie is so true. This is the year I made it to 50. You know the one I'm talking about? The milestone of all milestones is the big 5 0... The numbers alone look intimidating. There are even days when the numbers are completely off. How is that you say? Well, I can easily feel that and more on a not so good day, and then I can feel even less on a great day. It's all in ones perception.

If it's not humiliating enough to know ones age, it's even worse when A.A.R.P. sends out their special card for those of us that have reached "maturity". It reminds me of the excitement one feels when obtaining that all important drivers license. That made so many things in our youth...official. Anticipating the card from The Association for Advancement of Retired Persons (A.A.R.P) only officially announces to the world that one has reached maturity, but on a completely different level so to speak. It's as though we were now closer to an expiration date, as one would expect if the milk soured.

This is a monumental development in ones life. By now, one has sailed through life and garnered a certain amount of knowledge that can only be acquired through living and loving throughout ones life. At this point in ones life, passing on this said knowledge is what others younger than us expect. As if the pressures of everyday living are not enough, we're still expected to have compiled this vast array of life's lessons and be steadfast in dispensing it's meaning to those we love the most.

Numbers don't always mean one has matured. We all know friends or family members that have made it to 50 plus, and are as clueless now as when they arrived. It's as though they missed the boat so to speak. As far as that goes, there are those that couldn't find a boat if they were standing in the New York Harbor. As you're nodding your head or chuckling to yourself, it's understood that these words are true. Been there, done that...

What happened to our bodies? There are aches and pains in places one never knew even existed? As we mature and our bodies mature, one finds themselves in front of more and more doctors, it's like a revolving door. Remember in elementary school when we only had to learn the name of one teacher? Anticipating middle school and high school, we had a new teacher for every subject. It was thought to be so...adult like?

Trying to remember the different names of all of ones physicians, and the reason we have to see them is no longer hip as the

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