Amy Lu's View

Yesterday was my Half Birthday.

Yay?

I don’t usually celebrate my Half Birthdays, which maybe is a missed opportunity since I make such a to-do out of my birthday proper. Or perhaps I am so all in on my actual birthdays that I get it mostly out of my system.

But this year was a Milestone Birthday, so perhaps a half milestone (50.5) deserves some additional recognition.

I think I’m more aware of my Half Birthday this year because time and life is just so surreal because of COVID-19. I can’t believe that almost 6 months have gone by since I and the rest of the general population became aware of COVID and it began to significantly impact everyone’s life.

Pausing to acknowledge that a whole half year has both flown and crept by since a life milestone (even if it is completely arbitrary) in “Unprecedented Times” seems right. I’m grateful, confused, anxious and perplexed–for and by everything of my first 50 years of life, and the weird .5 since then.

I’m thankful for the people who have been with me on this journey, even if I’ve only recently seen them via a computer screen or behind a mask. And I’m blessed to be healthy–not only COVID-free, but able to have my body mostly do what I want it to.

Because…wait for it…”I kick and I stretch and I’m 50!”

Okay, actually, I don’t kick or stretch…but I run and I…well, run, and that should be close enough.

And how did I NOT know about this Molly Shannon SNL bit until a friend just recently shared it with me? How did I almost let my Year of Turning 50 go by without capitalizing on this?! Okay, I think I was dimly aware of it from back in the day when it premiered, but since at that time 50 felt eons away, it didn’t click for me.

But NOW it’s clicked, and for the the last 6 months that I’m 50, I will try to kick (it) and stretch every day–even if, or perhaps especially, if it’s not literal but metaphorical (although I’m sure literal stretching, if done properly, would actaully be really good for me). And there are certainly many ways, big and small, that I can stretch myself (Using my Babbel app to learn some Spanish? Watching something without aliens, stand-up comics or superheroes?). I would also feel quite mighty if I could Kick It in a number of realms from work to putting away the laundry.

And maybe, just maybe, I”ll show up to some virtual meeting with you in a rockin’ red polyester pantsuit.

Before and After…

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