40 Plus Woman

Audrey Van Petegem rocks red. She also helps us find serendipitous lifestyle finds for B(L)OOMERS especially at http://www.thesucculentwife.com.

I learned many things over the semester. This brings me immense joy that at 49 years old, I can experience newness, a spark, a rebirth. Whoever said an old dog can’t learn new tricks was WRONG!

I remember when I couldn’t take naps….when I listened to the Backstreet Boys and N’Sync on the radio because that’s what Molly and Kelly listened to….I played Barbies with Kelly until I wanted to cry…when these days would never end…

To say I was nervous about going back to school after almost three decades would be an understatement. Although I wasn’t nervous about the process of school (sitting in a class, interacting with other students and professors, and taking notes), I was nervous I’d forgotten something: underwear, pencils/pens, the right textbooks, paper to take notes, etc., etc.

“I want to go back to college,” I said to my husband of ten years.
David looked at me as if I’d grown horns. For the record, this is not a look I’m unfamiliar with. What is something you’ve done that seemed crazy to everyone else but yourself?

When I grow up, I want to be Tupac Shakur. I want to stand up against bullies, mean people, bad calls at sports events (like my indoor soccer games), for 40 plus woman who think they are invisible, for a society that makes anyone over the age of 25 feel like they’re old. I want to fight for teachers whose pay is cut every year while the CEOs of oil companies make a bazillion dollars. I want to come out swinging for equal pay for equal work, food justice and against plastic surgeons and the world we live in that bigger is better (boobs), smaller is lovelier (noses) and wrinkles should be erased.