Recently, it has become very apparent to me that I am not a young woman any more, and my parents are not middle aged people any more. I can’t quite tell you exactly when it happened, but it feels like it snuck up on me.

Why do I say this? Many reasons…

First, my parent’s neighbor of many years died. While she had been sick, it was still a sad loss for many.  Then my mom’s sister died. My mom is 83 and is the oldest daughter of her family. Her mom had 7 babies, 6 of whom lived to adulthood. Now there are only 2 remaining children of the original group. That makes me sad. I can’t imagine how my mom feels about it all.  And then yesterday, a friend of my mom’s (who was also mom to a classmate from high school and the grandmother of one of Louisa’s friends) who was only 70, lost her battle with cancer.

Texting with my mom about her friend, my mom said, “I’ve gotten to the age where all of my friends are either dying or on their way out! …none of us is going to get out of here alive!!! might as well face the facts! lol”

Maybe it was spending her life as a geriatric nurse, but my mom has always had a very grounded view on aging. It has helped me every time someone I know has died, expected or not.

Logically, I know that no one gets to live forever. I also know that being a 45 year old woman who still has both parents and all 7 of my siblings alive is pretty unique. I am fortunate in both ways. I guess it all has me thinking a lot about the circle of life.

Sometimes I still feel very much like a little kid, desperately wanting to be taken care of by my parents and free from any responsibility. Most of the time, though, I am grateful for having reached this point in my life. As many slogans say about women in their 40s, I’m young enough to still have fun but old enough to know better!

I guess my parting thought today is that life is short by any measure. We are not promised tomorrow, so tell people TODAY that you love them. Give more hugs. Smile more. And dance at every opportunity.