Living the Second Half

I've just started reading a book called Second Calling by Dale Hanson Bourke. It's geared for women who are on their second half of life and finding that there are adventures and joy that are on their way as we dive head first into our 40's and beyond.

I have to agree. I didn't even look at my life as if it was the "second half". Now I do, I discovered that there are some great points to living my second half. Here's some of them:

1) If I were younger, I probably would've cried when I realized that the ice cream maker was broken AFTER pouring the liquid into the ice cream maker. Yesterday, I laughed. Boo and I just stuck it in the freezer and stirred it every now and then.

2) Eating a powdered donut and dealing with allergies can be comical. After using the same napkin to hold the powdered donut, I got up from the table and wiped my itchy nose. Then, realized that I resembled a cocaine addict with white powder everywhere. I don't think I would've found that comical if I were younger.

3) The author says that in the second half, we are more accepting of our bodies not resembling that of a 20 something year old so we embrace what we can do more than how we look. I am so thankful that I can do so much, although, some of it may be met with more clumsiness and slowness, I can still do it.

4) Living my second half, I get thrills out having my daughters and son in boo, in the kitchen with me. The first half, I taught them how to cook but it was my love more than theirs so I spent more time in the kitchen, creating.





5) Even cleaning fish can be comical. In my younger days, I'd be grossed out. Instead, I embraced the chore and made the fish heads sing and talk. I challenged myself to look beyond the stink and to look forward to hopping in the shower afterwards.

6) I found humor as I waited for the fish to bite in these birds that I called, the God Forbid birds. I swear, they sounded just like they were saying, "God Forbid. You can see one of them here.



7) In my second half of life, I can try something new and if I don't like it, it's no big deal, on to the next adventure. My sister and I went to play Bingo for the very first time. It was the most comical sight watching all of the diehard bingo nerds. They had daubbers in every color, lucky hats, lucky stuffed toys and the desire to sit in one spot for two hours. My twin sis and I decided that we would rather move on to the next adventure.

8) As a second halfer, I can blame all of my issues on menopause (or pre-menopause) since I haven't reached the big M yet. When I get cranky, sweaty, sleepless and hungry enough to eat a whole bag of chips, I can always say, "It's just that ol menopause thing."

9) You can climb up in a toy made for kids and not feel utterly stupid because it's also an adventure. Here is Boo trying to show Baby Boo to have some fun and down the slide.



10) The food tastes better in the second half. Why? Because I've learned not to be a prisoner to how many bites or what I should or shouldn't eat. I've learned to enjoy while I still have active tastebuds.

Are you a second halfer?