It seems impossible and yet it’s true.
50 was about proving I surely wasn’t.
60 is about loving the years.
So, hello, sixty, I’m happy to be here.
Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.
–David Bowie
This is sixty.
60Â is more freedom than I’ve ever had. Really. It’s awesome.
60 is not just feeling the same but feeling better than I have in years.
60 is thinner skin–actually not metaphorically.
60 is loving my new MacBook Pro with touchbar a little too much.
60 is not yet having used age as a reason I can’t do something.
60 is wanting to do just as many things as I wanted to do at 15.
60 is wondering why, still, I’m preoccupied with freedom.
60 is starting to think hashtag before pound.
60 is having lived 21,900 days. Which doesn’t seem like so many. If anyone had asked me I would have guessed a person lived hundreds of thousands of days. But then math is not my strong suit.
60 is my own small house in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on the very tip of Cape Cod, as far as you can go without falling into the sea.
60 is wearing peace sign earrings and a nevertheless she resisted bracelet.
60Â is having not as many days as I have lived still to live.
60 is googling life expectancy. Did you know the longer you live the more years they give you?
60 is 4 adult children—all off on their own—plus a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law, and girlfriends. And liking them ALL.
60 is four grandchildren. But we are not your mothers’ grandmothers; we are grandmothers who facetime from airplanes.
60 is, as Cal says, one day older than I was yesterday.
60 is walking in the women’s march.
60 is finally liking yoga.
60 is liking socks.
60 is contributing to the ACLU on a monthly basis.
60 is taking 3 prescriptions–for blood pressure, for eyes, and  for hypothyroidism.
60 is still loving to travel–all the movement and that moment the wheels lift off the ground.
60 is strength training twice a week.
60Â is feeling happy.
60 is resisting.
60 is still wanting adventure.
60 is almost never wearing makeup.
60 is finally, finally finding clothes that are comfortable, that look good on me, and that look like me–black leggings, a short little black skirt, a long top, and these kick-ass black ankle boots. That is, when I wear something other than black exercise pants.
60 is more adverbs.
60Â is 32 years of marriage and still liking each other. He still makes me laugh.Â
60 is being born in 1957, the same year as Caroline Kennedy and Princess Caroline of Monaco.
60Â is remembering each of the years and understanding that they add up to 60, that they add up to me.
60Â is listening to my body instead of telling my body what to do. It’s resting instead of pushing. It’s eating more vegetables, doing qigong energy movements, and having my body say finally. It’s being amazed as, after a year of trying, the weight just falls off.
60 is listening to Sarah Jaffe’s Clementine, The Killer’s Human, the Branches Darlin’, and Roo Panes’ I Was Here…
60 is preparing to do one last revision on novel #4.
60 is knowing the correct form is to put the names of songs in quotes but liking the way they look in italics better.
60 is adding coconut oil, cinnamon, and turmeric to my coffee.
60 is using the word still a lot.
60Â is 6 decades on this planet.
60Â is gratitude for each of those days in each of those years.
60Â is not yet 70 or 80 or 90. It’s not yet 100.
60 is spending a month in my small house on the water.
60Â is being excited about the year ahead and the rest of the journey.
~
She sees that she has before her an important task: to understand that all the things that happened in her life happened to her. That she is the same person who was born, was a child, a girl, a young woman, and now she is old. That there is some line running through her body like a wick.
–Mary Gordon, The Rest of Life
THIS ISÂ 60
X
Continued appreciation to Lindsey Mead for the inspiration.
What a fabulous summation! And… happy 60th to you! You wear it well 🙂
Thank you, Anne! Enjoy Venice.
Lovely praise for this magical age! Enjoy! I’m right there with ya!
Thanks Teresa! Nice to hear from you.
That was great Cynthia. Happy 60th, here’s to more fabulous memories.
Thanks, Karen!
Happy Birthday, Cynthia! I loved every post of your years. Thank you!
Thanks, Karen–and thank you for reading!
This is lovely. I could “ditto” almost every one!!!!
Kirie, it’s so great to hear from you! How are you? Hope all is well in your world.
Happy Happy Happy Birthday!
Louise
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Louise!
WOOHOO! Happy 60! Just beautiful – all of it and you.
Thank you, Tricia : )
Happy 60th birthday, Cynthia! So much to celebrate!!
Thanks, Sarah! Hope all is well with you.
A perfect ending. AND a perfect beginning.
Have a wonderful day.
Oops, meant “Have a wonderful YEAR.”
Thanks, Claire!
I love it so much!
Yay! : )
Especially liked this. What a wonderful summation of who you are! Will try to do such a listing for my next decade celebration, a year and a half away!
Thank you, Dorothy! I’m already looking forward to reading yours!
Happy 60th!!! So many accomplishments and so much GROWTH. If life is good, we never stop growing, learning, realizing, acknowledging. I like you more with each post. 🙂
: ) Thank you, Terri!!! Such fun to get to know you too.
Well, I finally got through to your birthday – congratulations (a bit late but that means you can continue celebrating)! I’ll catch up to the sixth decade near the end of August. I’ve enjoyed reading through the years, seeing similarities, differences. Two girls from Spring Street, managing to live life well. Best to you, Cynthia, may this be your best year yet.
Thanks for reading, Naomi! It’s such fun to still be in touch with someone who was there at the beginning. We met over a half century ago, and only because of social media were we able to connect again. That’s something in its favor. Let’s start your celebration now–happy early birthday! Here’s to the 60’s and our best year yet.