Has Anyone Seen My 20s? (Part 1)

Strange little things started happening when I turned 30.  I noticed that it took a little more effort to lose five or ten pounds than it had five years before.  And I also noticed that the skin above my knees wasn't as firm as it once was.  But other than those two things, I didn't really notice a lot of changes that I anticipated, especially since some of my older friends would often say, "Oh, honey, just wait until you turn 30."

So I rocked along through my 30s, and those little changes became a bit more pronounced, but they were nothing to write home about.

Then I turned 40 and all hell broke loose.  I've been known to stagger up to people and say, "For Pete's sake, what is happening to me and where are my 20s?  And while we're at it, I'd like to know who in the heck stripped away my 30s."

When I mentioned my distress to my mother a couple of years ago, she just looked at me and grinned.  It was a grin that caused me to flashback to my smug teens and even my overly confident 20s, and that's when I realized my mother's grin said, "Ha-ha Ha-ha-ha HA!  Marian's getting hers!"

I vividly remember sitting with my parents in the sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church as a teenager and watching my mother try to hold the bulletin two arms-lengths in front of her.  We sat about halfway back from the front of the church, and I thought it was hilarious to ask Mama if she'd like me to creep up to the front pew and ask Mr. Tom or "Miss" Mary Nell Currie if they'd hold theirs up so she could read what hymn was coming up next.

Now, I don't know why my mother didn't knock me into the next week except that she had the (only) gifts that come with age and experience on her side.  She knew that one day, one sweet blessed day, it would happen to me, too...a fact that never even crossed my tiny little mind.

It sure as heck crosses my mind now.  Look what I had to break down and buy.

Sadly, these are just three of the pair I've had to buy because it's not like I can remember where I put the first pair of little devils.  

Oh, yes, the 40s memory spasms have started, too.  

At least now if I write myself a little reminder note, I can put on my new eyes and actually read it without asking the neighbor across the street to hold it up for me.