{"id":162,"date":"2015-11-04T18:08:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-04T18:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/?p=162"},"modified":"2020-04-13T19:03:57","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T19:03:57","slug":"49-things-i-didnt-know-id-love-about-being-forty-nine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/?p=162","title":{"rendered":"49 things I didn\u2019t know I\u2019d LOVE about being Forty-nine"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been writing every day of my forty-ninth year (shout out to Brandon of the “M-Inklings” for his inspiration) as a way of being mindful and present to each new sunrise and the events that follow in those finite 24 hours against the back drop of a particular place, with amazing people whose signatures and stories are written on each page of that measured space.<\/p>\n

While walking this year out, I’ve been surprised at some of my favorite discoveries. When thinking back to my earlier perceptions of women my age now, I had no idea that they were having (or were capable of having) such a fabulous time!<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s the typical things we anticipate loving at the mid-life mark: delicious food, coffee, sleeping babies, puppies, springtime, romance, wine and a good book, in front of a crackling fire, or diving into a clear pool naked…<\/p>\n

As well, we hope to attain wisdom and kindness, patience and character that comes with maturity, such as learning to be more  gentle with ourselves and others, more appreciative, less driven, to arrive at a deepened faith–all wonderful things; but still, I wanted to be more lively with some of the memorable, less important, surprising things of being my age.<\/p>\n

In no particular order, the following are happy surprises that I didn’t know I’d LOVE about being forty-nine:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. being sexier and more fit than when I was 19, 29 or 39<\/li>\n
  2. hearing my mom and granny tell stories…with new twists<\/li>\n
  3. our daughter-in-law!<\/li>\n
  4. chasing little children and big dogs<\/li>\n
  5. sleepovers with my daughter<\/li>\n
  6. parties and dancing with dear ones<\/li>\n
  7. getting the back story, secrets that we never knew<\/li>\n
  8. life at the Baxter<\/li>\n
  9. engaging in the present rather than escaping<\/li>\n
  10. SEX<\/li>\n
  11. the sweet, vintage comfort of long friendships<\/li>\n
  12. being a little rebellious<\/li>\n
  13. wine tasting in Sonoma\/Napa valleys–paired w\/ good friends cheese and nuts<\/li>\n
  14. quality makeup brushes<\/li>\n
  15. quiet moments all to myself<\/li>\n
  16. stomping through mud puddles<\/li>\n
  17. sleepovers with my sisters<\/li>\n
  18. sledding<\/li>\n
  19. recognizing and using my voice<\/li>\n
  20. trail running\u2026in all seasons…especially in 40 degrees<\/li>\n
  21. being and having enough<\/li>\n
  22. running in vineyards with Ali<\/li>\n
  23. photos of me<\/li>\n
  24. sipping mimosas on a lazy morning<\/li>\n
  25. forgiving the past \u2013 no, I mean really letting it go<\/li>\n
  26. being greeted by happy dogs of all shapes and sizes while hiking<\/li>\n
  27. tanning booths in February and March<\/li>\n
  28. awesome technology<\/li>\n
  29. church bells ringing on Sunday morning<\/li>\n
  30. fun fashion<\/li>\n
  31. simplicity – freedom<\/li>\n
  32. learning new things<\/li>\n
  33. scary challenges<\/li>\n
  34. Korean food\u2026in Korea<\/li>\n
  35. the sky\/the ocean\/the desert\/the mountains<\/li>\n
  36. poetry<\/li>\n
  37. writing snapshots<\/li>\n
  38. firsts!<\/li>\n
  39. international friendships – Brazillians<\/li>\n
  40. skinny jeans and tall boots<\/li>\n
  41. spa treatments<\/li>\n
  42. making new traditions w\/ James and our kids<\/li>\n
  43. cashmere<\/li>\n
  44. mastering my craft<\/li>\n
  45. Asiana Airlines<\/li>\n
  46. indie films<\/li>\n
  47. Marvel comics<\/li>\n
  48. being found attractive by men of all ages<\/li>\n
  49. trading \u201ccomfortable\u201d for \u201cinteresting\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you are 49 or above, what are some of your favorite surprises that you never expected? If you are younger, what do you hope will be on your list?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I’ve been writing every day of my forty-ninth year (shout out to Brandon of the “M-Inklings” for his inspiration) as a way of being mindful and present to each new sunrise and the events that follow in those finite 24 hours against the back drop of a particular place, with amazing people whose signatures and stories are written on each page of that measured space. While walking this year out, I’ve been surprised at some of my favorite discoveries. When thinking back to my earlier perceptions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,30,17],"tags":[46,49,45,7],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aging-gracefully","category-life-transitions","category-whole-person-health","tag-celebration","tag-forty-nine","tag-transitions","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":496,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donasofia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}