How Does It Feel to Turn 60? Let me Tell You all About it!

How Does It Feel to Turn 60? Your 6th decade? How did it come so fast?? But I say, BRING. IT. ON.

How Does It Feel to Turn 60? Well, pretty good! My lovely, lovely daughter, Alexandra, aka @SweetSweetDallas and @AlexandraMintonPhoto , gave me a surprise brunch at Sixty Vines in Dallas! Sixty Vines, get it? She put together a small gathering with our best friends, and my son and his family came up from Austin. What a wonderful surprise. Alexandra knows how to throw an event, where to get an amazing cake, and the cutest little party favors ever!

How Does It Feel to Turn 60? My sixth decade seems to be no different than my 40s or 50s and yet, unbelievable. This is not the 60 of my grandmothers, or my mother for that matter. My grandmothers were old, even when they were only in their 50’s. And I mean they were elderly. Of course, their lives were much, much harder than mine has ever been, and between an easier lifestyle (after all, I don’t have to milk my own cows or cut off a chicken’s head for dinner), better healthcare, and easy access to vitamin supplements and beauty products, my 60 is very, very different from theirs, and different from my mother’s too. I hope my daughter’s 60 is even better than mine! My 60 feels damn good!

Don’t get me wrong, I have my aches and pains! I even have to have a hip replacement! I thought only blue haired old ladies had those, but I’ve had chronic pain all of my life, so I don’t relate my aches and pains to age. Because of my lifelong spinal issues, after my last surgery in 2000 which included 4 titanium rods and 8 pedicle screws, I haven’t been able to do the things I have loved to do. I can’t ride horses (other than a calm trail ride), I can’t walk and hike long distances (but maybe after my hip replacement?), I can’t play tennis or golf (even though I never did play golf), I can’t do major aerobic exercise, or dance. I do yoga, hope to go back to Pilates after my hip is fixed, and I scuba dive/snorkel/swim. Oh, and I can kayak, which I love. But in Dallas, Texas, you cannot kayak and swim year round.

How Does It Feel to Turn 60? My mother and grandmothers would have been puzzled by the idea of exercise. I tried to get my mother to do a little, but that didn’t work out. She didn’t want to ride her stationary bike because it made her breathless and her heart beat rapidly. I said, um, yep, that is what exercise is supposed to do! She did not like it. In fairness, her childhood was filled with hard work, so she enjoyed the luxury of sitting around watching television. I would say I feel great, and I do, but I have chronic pain, and I am really pissed off at my hip. I’m going to try and get it replaced quickly so I don’t have to put up with this bullshit! I am off to Indonesia in January, and I am hoping to get my hip fixed before I go. I’m off to dive Raja Ampat and the Coral Sea with my friend, Andrea, aka the Queen of Mantas. I love these citizen science trips!

The best gift, however, was a little notebook, full of best wishes and comments from family and friends. It was almost like attending my own eulogy, if that makes sense. The book made me cry, cry, cry, and I feel blessed to be so loved and to have made a difference in people’s lives. It was the most amazing gift, and I am humbled to have been fortunate enough to hear how much I am loved. What better gift could I possibly receive??? Thank you to my daughter, Alexandra, who reached out to so many wonderful friends and family members in order to give me the gift of a lifetime. In case you haven’t picked up on it, my daughter is all kinds of thoughtful, darling, talented, and fabulous.

Do I plan to alter my way of life? Uh, NO. I still have so many things I want to do! It is nowhere near time to slow down.

How Does It Feel to Turn 60? This is 60, and I say:

BRING IT ON!

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