In just about 10 days I will celebrate another birthday, thank God. As I have matured (not so much), I have come to appreciate looking back just a bit. My girlfriends and I, all respectfully in our upper forties and lower to mid fifties, at times sit around and ponder those wonderful younger years that seem so long gone. Which makes me realize that I truly did not appreciate the oils in my skin, my dark lovely hair, the skin that at times betrayed me by allowing a pimple to surface. The above picture was taken in my 8th grade classroom by my Science teacher Mr. Vazquez because I said out loud " I am not a pretty girl". He felt I had no esteem and he was probably right but it was right around puberty where we all hate ourselves. He told me that he would take this picture and one day, many years later I would look at it and understand just how pretty I was.

He was right, over the years at one stage or another I have found some things that did not appeal to me and the older I got the more grateful I became when I looked at pictures at all stages of my life. Another Birthday is an opportunity to celebrate all the years. Like the photo around my 9th birthday (which was the only birthday celebrated as a child) where my hairclips are not really aligned and the part in my hair is a tad off, but my eyes are young and full of promise and my hair is not needing of a dye job.

My friend Lisa and I are known to complain about our weight, our hair, our complexion, the dark circles under our eyes, the cellulite, the bulge in our belly....blah, blah, blah, well its life and its been good.

Yes, we are aging, yes some days we look better than others, yes the gray will someday win, No we will never be 20 again, and the spring in our step may be a little painful at times, but we absolutely must continue to take all opportunities given to us to bring out our inner child, though the merry-go-round does seem a little slower.