This year I have embarked on My Hot 50 Project. As the name suggests, I turn 50 in May. I share my 50th birthday year with my sister in law who has just completed her 50th year around the sun a few weeks ago. We are planning a joint celebration in Las Vegas. There will be matching T-shirts and tiaras involved.
Here is a picture of us………….
I think we are pretty awesome!!! Our T-shirts will say “Slaying at 50”. They are sparkly and perfect for a couple of birthday DIVAs such as ourselves 😊. We have a special date planned the first day of our trip with just the two of us.
I normally am not one to put a lot of emphasis on celebrating the 10th years in a more special way than any other year. My husband, however, began inspiring my enthusiasm…….“you only turn 50 once, you want to do something special” became his motto for a good couple of years………little by little my own excitement started to build.
As we embarked on 2019 I decided that this was going to be the year where I focused on feeling and looking my best while enjoying my age. It feels like my right of passage, the time to make peace with anything that is weighing me down.
As my sister in law’s birthday approached I was determined to make the day extra special, we celebrated with lunch, fun gifts, balloons, and getting tattoos…………..
My sister in law had decided that she wanted to do something different on her actual birthday and that ‘something’ became getting a tattoo. So my husband and I booked appointments for the four of us (my sister in law, her husband (my brother in law), my husband and myself) at our friends tattoo shop.
I spent a lot of time planning on what I wanted my tattoo to be. Meet Lily 😊…………….she is my Little Lovey Peacemaker Fourth Chakra and the butterflies are my other six……she has a sweet and feisty vibe, just like me…………..
It was an awesome day. Most importantly, my sister in law had a fantastic time. Towards the end of the evening her and I had a long conversation as we always do when we get together and she said something that had a huge impact on me.
She had brought framed pictures with her and gave them to each of us before we went to get our tattoos. Each picture captured a recent memory that we shared with her. The one of us is what I included above from when we went to see Justin Timberlake, a birthday present from her and my brother in law, last year.
Part of our conversation was about how we don’t have a lot of recent pictures developed because they are all on our phones. She had mentioned that this was one of the reasons she was inspired to get new pictures developed because one of the pictures she had on display at her house was of me and my husband when my hair was short and still growing out after chemo. This also contributed to her wanting to do something different and out of the ordinary on her actual birthday because “we are past all of that”.
The moment that she said those words I realized why this birthday meant more to me than I was first allowing myself to recognize and also why Lily my Little Lovey was the perfect way to express it.
10 years prior as she and I were sharing our 40th birthday year we were in a quite different set of circumstances. After a valiant fight for her life, my mother in law passed away from cancer the day before my sister in laws birthday. We celebrated (and I use that term loosely) her birthday at the funeral home. A few months later I had my first mammogram where I was told that something looked suspicious and I needed to see a breast surgeon. Two days after my 40th birthday I began my experience with breast cancer and I spent that year undergoing chemo, getting a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
It was the beginning of decade that was filled with a lot of emotion, a lot of learning and a lot of new normal. As a family we had quite our share of issues that extended way past how our 40th year ended and our 41st year began.
There were a lot of positives during those 10 years as well, good times, great moments and memories that we shared.
I was able to fully heal from my first marriage, heal relationships with other family members, become the mother I really wanted to be for my daughters and together my husband Carey and I have built a very solid foundation for our family to love and grow in.
It has been the decade that I really owned my power and became the woman I was born to be. I created Happy Tappy Girl which brought me to all of you which I am forever grateful and the work I am able to do with my fellow DIVA’s in DIVA Nation continues to inspire me.
All of my tattoos represent what is important to me and have a special meaning. I have my lower left leg dedicated to Carey and I. I have my upper right arm dedicated to my daughters and I. The last large piece I had done was my upper left thigh that is themed “I Can Do Anything” and is dedicated to my experience with breast cancer. It was a long time since I have had any significant amount of work done. Lily my Little Lovey represents who I am now. Our heart chakras are our peacemakers between what is going on at the lower chakras and what happens in our upper chakras.
Coming full circle, in February the topic of DIVA Nation’s Tappy Hour was “Loving Myself Exactly As I Am”.
I am in a much more open, loving and compassionate space then I was 10 years ago. I fully own that I am lovable and powerful. Those are my birthrights and it’s been an adventure learning how to embrace that as my resolute truth.
It’s not about being perfect or having rules, conditions and unreasonable expectations. It’s just about loving who you are in the moment, making peace with your life, allowing yourself to have a fluid identity, allowing yourself to feel the magic of possibility (even when your life in a state of chaos) and taking care of the skin you are in by simply being honest with how you feel and meeting yourself where you are right now. My 5 Key Principles.
My sister in law and I said that it is time to start this next decade from a fresh perspective and we are both ready.
I can’t wait to see what my 51st year brings…………….so over the next 3 months as I am in the home stretch of completing my official 50th year around the sun I am going to keep loving, learning, growing and letting go of whatever is just not serving me anymore.
I’m ready to Slay at 50! Sparkling and wearing a tiara living like the DIVA I am.
Love,
Cathy
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