Birthdays are Always Better with Your Sister…
February has always been a super special month for me…. and my much older (shorter, BUT Yes, still older) sister Vicki, OK, ONLY 1 year and 362 days older, BUT every day and year counts at this point!!!….From the earliest of memories, I can remember us always sharing our birthday celebrations together over a Pot of Gravy, YES, my Family calls it Gravy (Pellegrino is indeed a southern Italian name and that’s what they call it in the South, NOT wrong, JUST different), meatballs, pasta, and a Devils Food chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, YUMMY!!!
As a young girl, I was always envious how my sisters were older than me, could do more than me, stay up later than me, two examples, I vividly remember opening up the shades in my room to see it was still light outside, and thought, “are you kidding me?” My mom was trying to get away with putting me to bed by 8p.m on a July night when I was 7?? Another, they could always play with “Jeannie next door” because they were older and that really made me mad!!!! I HATED to be the youngest sister until that ONE day that my oldest sister, ( I have 2) turned 40 and I thought, HOLY SHIT, being 32 and much younger is FRICKEN GREAT!!!!!
Now, Hanging on to 44, (I really like anything divisible by 2, total superstition thing for me) Counting down the days until my Birthday(T-6), all the while trying to estimate my mortality, factoring in my grandparents mortality (57-95 yrs. of age), my fathers mortality, 51 (not good) and my mom, who is 75, has had breast cancer, beat it, and is currently super healthy, and always on the Go!!! Am I crazy or do we all start anticipating DEATH and how it will look, what will eventually DO US IN? Crazy, I don’t know, but if you would like another opinion you could ask my husband, and he would say “YEP, she’s CRAZY”….All in the name of love I keep telling myself?
I think most men and women have differing opinions of “CRAZY” though!
As I move into my 46th year of life, (turning 45 means you have completed the 45 years, never really thought about it until recently) I am determined to be as healthy as possible, continue to combat anxiety and crabbiness, continue with my weekly workouts, and share my passion for recipe creating and targeting cholesterol and labeling all attributing healthy benefits.
Robin Roberts, from GMA, talked about being present and in the moment and it really resonated with me. Worrying about the future most certainly leads to ANXIETY, looking into the past leads to DEPRESSION, and living for today will lead to PEACE!!! I try and make a concerted effort to find and enjoy peace daily and make a conscious effort to be kind to all people I encounter. I am grateful for my life experiences, Good and Bad, my wonderful and supportive, yet sometimes PITA husband, beautiful children who can’t understand why I YELL so loud, and God as my go-to for eternal peace.
Aging with Grace & Health is all that anyone really wants as a middle-aged person, right??? The Wrinkles and Grays are Plentiful AND with that comes a huge Appreciation of Time & Life Experiences. Happy February All & Happy Birthday to my Beautiful sister Vicki!
-Stephanie