52 for 52 - - Part II

Continuing my self-selected birthday assignment, I'll reveal the next 10 things in my 52 for 52 series about how life gets better with age.

1. I have a  much better bucket list.  Not because I've done many of the things I wanted, but I have taken things off the list because - meh - they weren't so special.  I have replaced them with things like, "Make a trans-Atlantic boat crossing" and "Stand on the Great Wall of China someday."  Really good stuff, you know?


2. I have little to no anxiety about entertaining.  It has come with years of practice, enjoying and watching others do it, and largely ignoring Martha Stewart's practice of setting the table with a variety of impossibly assembled  antiques and hundreds of dollars in floral arrangements.  I love my Lenox china (after 22 years, no small feat) and I have enough greenery and variety from my own garden that I can put together a pretty respectable (if not knockout) table, including individual salts,  lovely vintage linens, and buttery napkins that cover the entire lap. I can also whip up an Opera Cake without breaking a sweat, so  suck on that, Martha. (I'm sure she could too, but I do it without having staff.)


3. I'm much better at telling people what I think.  Not in the nasty way - but in a firm,  diplomatic  manner that indicates I can also do it in the nasty way if things get much worse.


4. I'm not chained to department store cosmetic counters anymore. I always thought the 'best' stuff was the high-priced stuff.   Paula Begoun has great reviews of all kinds of product lines, and the stuff she sells herself is pretty darn good.  I do miss those Clinique Bonus thingies every once in a while, but what I save on buying department store stuff  can be spent on other treats.  I'm not saying it's all bad, I'm just saying there is other stuff out there that is just as good and half the price.  I'm liberated from labels.


5. Two words - fewer periods. The end is in sight.


6. Self-awareness increases exponentially.


7. My spiritual life is better - not because I'm closer to the end of my life than the start of my life, but because years of living life deepens and enriches the soul.


8. I'm moving closer to being a "glass is half full"  type person.


9. I used to roll my eyes and pray that I would never become one of those women who wear hats and gloves and dig around in their gardens and tend their flower beds. Now I have become one and it rocks.


10. I still write - and  receive - bread and butter notes.  The best ones are from friends who have had us for dinner (and been here for dinner) a zillion times.   Every note ends with warm, loving and sincere thanks for the evening and gratitude for the love and friendship we share.  Email, tweets and texts just don't come close to the elegant act of love that is sitting down with a pen and some really nice stationery and putting it all down in writing to read, re-read, and savor.