"Fifty"

How olde would you be

if you didn't know how olde you are?

~Leroy Sanchell Paige

     On my fiftieth birthday, my eldest daughter gave me a pin that said "Fifty is Nifty." I wore it to work that day, and what fun it was!  All day, people kept saying things to me, such as, " Anita, you don't look fifty," or "Why, Anita, you can't be fifty, and "We know you can't be fifty."

     It was wonderful.  Now, I knew they were lying, and they knew I knew, but isn't that what friends and co-workers are for?  To lie to you when you need it, in times of emergency, like divorce and  death and turning fifty.

    Y ou know how it is with a lie, though. You hear it often enough, and you begin to think it's true. By the end of the day, I felt fabulous.  I fairly floated home from work. In fact, on the way home, I thought: I really ought to dump my husband. After all, the geezer was fifty-one, way too olde for a young-looking gal like me.

     Arriving home, I had shut the front door when the doorbell rang.  It was a young girl from a florist shop,

bringing birthday flowers from a friend. They were lovely. I stood in my doorway holding the flowers and admiring them, while the delivery girl stood there, waiting for a tip. 

     She noticed the pin on my jacket and said, " Oh, fifty, eh?"

     "Yes," I answered, and waited. I could stand one last compliment before my birthday ended.

     "Fifty," she repeated. "That's great!  Birthday or anniversary?" 

~Unknown

~Beannaichte'

18 September, 2012