It's autumn now. The leaves are changing color. The weather is brisk. Well, actually, the weather is warm and humid, but that's just a mid-Atlantic thing. We always have a few false starts at autumn. Hopefully it will come back to us soon. So... "The leaves are changing color and the weather should be brisk"!
Anyway, some would say that at 50, we enter the autumn of our lives. They see summer flowers dying and grass browning and reflect that their lives also are drying up and winding down. Well, everything in life can be looked at in a 1/2-full cup or 1/2-empty cup scenario. I like a 1/2-full cup approach:

• My body sags more, has a few more aches and pains, etc.,  but it functions pretty well. I'm  healthy and mobile. 
• I used to turn guy's heads;  now they relate to me more as a fellow human being.
• I used to feel that I must be a success in my career, now I define "success" differently.
• My child is grown and doesn't depend on me anymore, but I can serve and grow in other areas.  (Besides, I think she still needs me - at least a little!)
• I've forgotten much of what I learned in college, but I've learned so many things since then that I never would have learned in college.

God's definition of beauty is a lot different than the world's.     Heather Whitestone