<p>Someone should congratulate Springfieldmom.</p>
<p><em>takes head off table. looks around</em></p>
<p>Hmm. Guess that’s me.</p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS!!!</p>
<p>Thanks, Alu!</p>
<p>Sluggy, you can have some of our snow 
:eek: :D</p>
<p>you guys are way more fun than the financial aid thread…we’re slogging our way through more essays for scholarships and more paperwork for finaid…but that’s better than snowbanks!</p>
<p>Rescue time…</p>
<p>Loving the 4 day weekend. Hope all of you are having a mellow time with your families. Made a pitcher of cosmopolitans tonight and went to some friends’ for dinner. TSFS drove. So handy having a 15.5 year old! Whoooo!</p>
<p>Enjoy.</p>
<p>This is the day we traditionally do our taxes, assuming all the paperwork is in the file we think it is. Yay Turbotax.</p>
<p>Son is off on a ski trip in (don’t laugh) southern Indiana. Those of you who frequent Tahoe etc. are probably splitting a gut at the thought of “skiing” on an 800 ft. hill with a drop of 400 ft., but it’s actually quite nice. Chair lifts, big lodge, tubing for the non-skiers, and…plenty of snow! :P</p>
<p>More musings on being 50.</p>
<p>I thought it was the Pretty Fairy I missed most. Hmm. Think it’s actually the Stamina Fairy. Hairy legs, biceps, mullet and all. It’s her I would like to call back from the retirement hall. From the crypt that is what remains of my endocrine system.</p>
<p>You know that tag line, Just Do It? That’s been my mantra all my life. Something is heavy? Pick it up. Life sucks? Get out of bed. To much to do? Move faster. Yeah well turns out that approach to life requires a limitless supply of adrenaline and a killer immune system. Which just isn’t necessarily available once we hit 50.</p>
<p>At 25, I traveled through India by myself for 3 months. Carrying my own bags. Ate something questionable one day, wound up alone in Karnataka, with a 105 degree fever that aspirin could not control, washing my wrists down in cold water in a restaurant bathroom to keep from hallucinating long enough that I could get onto the train to Calcutta. Which I did. And on arrival in Calcutta commandeered a tik tik that was powered by a shaved head muscular guy. And his feet. Yes his feet. Got to the hotel and had them point me to a doctor. Who gave me antibiotics and Gatoradeish stuff and told me not to leave my hotel room. Which, since I could no longer get out of bed, was not an issue.</p>
<p>I recovered in a day or two. I spent another month in India, and Nepal, including a trek up to see K2 with a porter who spoke no English and a bike ride alone through a hailstorm from Boris’ Restaurant back to the center of Kathmandu.</p>
<p>These days the things I did as a 25-year old would probably put me in a hospital. </p>
<p>I never realized that what I thought was my attitude and my personality was actually in large part my chemical makeup. Ah. The arrogance of youth. And the humility of middle-age. I now have to say things like, “Yes, that would be great if you carried my suitcase.” Or, “No, no tequila shots for me tonight.” Or, <em>to random young male co-worker</em> “Could you please go and get my laptop from my office for me?” I’m not the strongest any more. Not the fastest. Don’t have the most endurance. </p>
<p>People said wisdom would compensate. They neglected to mention that I’d be wise but since I would forget the names of many things and dates of many events I would show up with my wisdom at the wrong time and place and call the people I’m supposed to tell my wisdom to by the wrong names:).</p>
<p>Tks. for that Alumother. I’ve been feeling so . . . I don’t know . . . WEIRD.</p>
<p>– Like when I showed up with the 13 year old for an interview at a private high school recently, and the young man who was the admissions rep said, “You, know, actually, I had you scheduled for the 27th,” and I say, “Uh, huh, that’s what I had down” and he says, “Well, the 27th is tomorrow. . .” </p>
<p>But, thinking in a more positive vein, sure there are some nice things about being <em>almost 50</em>, like being pleasantly surprised when something arrives in the mail that I didn’t remember ordering . . .</p>
<p>Thanks alu–it made my day! Esp. the last paragraph.</p>
<p>I’m sure I’m a better musician than I was at 25 but not sure that totally compensates for loss of technique. Ah well. You just have to pick your audience, and I try to pick uncritical ones. ;)</p>
<p>Well I am coming up on Five Oh! and I am having the opposite experience–mostly because I switched my gym routine and hired a trainer who pushes me like he’d push an athlete. After two months of two-a-weeks (hello empty nest!), I am seeing a huge difference in my stamina and strength and Can-Do attitude. I’ve even started riding my bike up in the BIG hills. Mind you, the first time out, I had to stop at the top of each climb <em>huff huff</em> but the improvement is rapid. Last night I only had to stop twice.</p>
<p>Alum, you give yourself another eight or nine months and then try pushing your athletics again. You are uch stronger than you think–just not at the moment. It’s not 50, it’s all the other junk.</p>
<p>Memory isn’t what it used to be but I can be a lioness with a diary.</p>
<p>“Hairy legs, biceps, mullet and all.”</p>
<p>I have all these now, except the mullet (but I do have a full head of hair). Do you mean I will lose all of these when I turn 50 in three years? Oh the thoughts of hairless legs with varicose viens, and even sock garters?</p>
<p>College freshman D is madly in love. So far, youth has not been wasted on that young 'un.</p>
<p>Hope all are well. It has been two weeks since my last CC visit. Marmots were worried…</p>
<p>Look gang,</p>
<p>Ya really want to know what the problem is? we haven’t begun celebrating fat tuesday yet. So lets have a round of drinks, and raise a few glasses, to our hairy legs, fading memories and hopes that kid will give up bf/gfs for lent (not a chance of that happening, but I just thought I’d toss it in).</p>
<p>M& S, </p>
<p>Stayed tuned, as I am sure if BF is not treating D well, you and slugg can come up with something from the ACME company to take care of him. You know the marmots will take care of any kind of “evidence” ;)</p>
<p>BF is still in the adoring/worshipping stage, but we all know that can change.</p>
<p>Does anyone remember Liza Minelli’s “Liza with a Z” tv special? One of the skits (“Ring Them Bells”) is about two apartment neighbors (she was “E”, he was “F”) who meet half way around the world? Kind of that way for D: she goes to school 250 miles away to date someone who lives two miles from her house at home…</p>
<p>Small world.</p>
<p>I missed the bulk of the nasty Midwest/East storm. Travelled to San Diego on business. Funniest thing was that San Diegans were complaining about their terrible weather: one day it rained (the horror!), another morning was in the low fifties!</p>
<p>Much as I missed the family, I was in no hurry to return to the one inch of ice waiting on my windshield at the airport, with a windchill below zero.</p>
<p>Happy Fat Tuesday! </p>
<p>It is a happy day! My eight year old (who must have had whatever Alumother had), is finally feeling okay after two weeks, and is walking around singing again, love it! Last week was a baaad week . . .</p>
<p>Well, I really must get off CC now – right after I check that addiction thread again . . .</p>
<p>Hey, guess what, SA pals? TSFH called me sheepishly this afternoon to report that he was “awarded” his first-ever speeding ticket today, on the motorcycle of course. </p>
<p>He has handed over the keys which won’t be returned until he completes traffic school and pays his fines. And does some appropriate penance that we haven’t figured out yet.</p>
<p>Poor guy, it was about an hour after he’d called me to tell me what a fabulous GREAT day he’d had at school. In the call admitting the ticket, he morosely told me, “And now my great day has been completely shattered.” (Gee, if he’d had a wreck, I’d think “shattered”; a ticket stinks, but eh.) At least he sounds terribly contrite; dare I hope he’s learned his lesson?</p>
<p>well, we’re having an equally morose evening here – no one is talking. daughters are banding together against parents’ “harsh, unfair” punishment of eldest. I fear said eldest is just counting the months until she can get out of here. wait – 18 some odd years ago – did someone say parenting was fun/rewarding? Bourbon Street anyone?</p>
<p>We celebrated Mardi Gras a day early. Dh had two college roommate over and we broke out this bottle of port he had been given at a Gordon Conference. It came from the cellars of Oxford and was unlabeled except for a 63 (1963?) on the lead covering. We think it’s worth a small fortune from what we our cursory internet searching. Anyway we aren’t port connoisseurs, but it was very, very smooth.</p>
<p>How did I overlook the fact that it’s Fat Tuesday!!! I didn’t even have a paczki…:(</p>
<p>Alu, love what you wrote. </p>
<p>Getting old is such a mixed bag! Wisdom schmisdom. All the wisdom in the world does NOT make it easier to surrender. </p>
<p>Why is it always about surrender? I hate to surrender. I like to FIGHT!!</p>
<p>I’m with cheers though. CARDIO. 5 hours a week. I feel really good & I am down to practically my 1980’s-punk-cigarette smoker weight, only I’m not smoking and do not have purple hair anymore. </p>
<p>Less fat ALSO changes the whole hormonal picture for the better. Trust me! (Italian soccer team style better.)</p>
<p>Kisses to all who need them, especally Mootie.</p>
<p>Ah mootmom, well at least you can relax for a little while until he is finished paying for his ticket. It probably is a good thing he got a ticket so quickly, maybe it will make an impression. I’m hoping!</p>
<p>ivoryk – AWWWW. I know how you feel. I really need to get a dog. A dog will love me. The eight year old still loves me, but I know the day is coming when she will turn on me, too. A dog. Need a dog. The cat just isn’t a dog. But I taught kitty a trick, I’m so proud of myself! It took a long time, though . . . </p>
<p>About that wisdom thing, you know, I do feel wiser than I used to, but as my 59 year old friend says, “Nobody cares!” At the same time you become wise, you become invisible . . . But little kids still listen to me, seem to like me. Gotta love those little ones!</p>
<p>Or then again, maybe I’m not wiser at all, just delusional . . .</p>
<p>Pittsburgh: home of the AARP hotties…</p>
<p>AARP magazine’s June trip to the Three Rivers Arts Festival in search of “real people” models over age 50 really paid off. Of the nine women selected to appear in the March/April edition, four turned out to be from Pittsburgh.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07052/763666-51.stm[/url]”>http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07052/763666-51.stm</a></p>