I’ve never been one too terribly concerned with my age. It was just a number to me. Over the years I’ve seen my students “tiptoe” around the topic. I’m guessing they’d encountered other adults who were sensitive about age. When in class I’d share a story an event from the past, they quickly would start their calculations and guesses of my age and awkwardly ask, “Señora, that would make you…?” I’d always tell them to stop doing the math and tell them how old I was. Not a big deal! I wondered, however, if turning 50 would be different.
I had, the prior August, returned from World Youth Day. If I was serious about making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, (and I had NO timetable) I knew one thing: I needed to lose a lot of weight. It was February and I was to turn 50 in May. I decided that in my 50th year I would lose 50 pounds. I had a feeling that having this goal would help me through this milestone year.
Thank you Weight Watchers. Thank you to my family and friends that supported and encouraged me that year. Part of me wonders – Why didn’t I lose the weight before then? I certainly had plenty of good reasons to lose it! There was something about this particular motivation that inspired me. Sometimes people asked what my motivation to lose weight was and I’d reply, “Well, I’m a new grandmother and I want to live a long life and be active with my grandbabies.” Or “I was turning 50.” Of course my family and some close friends knew. I had to accomplish this before I could even think about making the pilgrimage to Santiago.
After losing the weight I rewarded myself by purchasing the guidebook Camino de Santiago de Compostela: The Way of St. James by John Brierley. I didn’t dare buy it before then! This was a very exciting day when it arrived in the mail.
I’ll soon be turning 55. Age? Still not a big deal to me. Over the past 5 years a variety of circumstances have come up that have told me that it was not the right time. This is the right time and God has confirmed this for me in so many ways.