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I celebrate my birthday every year without apology. It feels sacred to me.
The day I was given life.
The reminder that I am still here.
Two reasons that feel more than enough for a celebration.
This year I’m turning fifty.
A number that feels both soft and strong.
A threshold.
A chapter that invites me to stand taller in who I am and to cheer loudly for how far I have come.
For fifty years, life has been teaching me in whispers and hollers, each experience leaving its mark and offering something to take away.
These lessons were shaped by cornerstone moments like becoming a mother, earning my master’s in Education, building and advancing in a career I am proud of and love, finding my true love, surrounding myself with friends and family, and learning, at last, to love myself.
Every chapter mattered.
Every season counted.
I have learned that happiness is a choice.
Not a reward.
It is not something waiting on the other side of accomplishment.
It actually comes first and becomes steadier as you choose it again and again.
I have learned that my body is not something to battle.
For too many years, I spoke to it with disappointment and blame.
Yet it carried me through every moment I thought I could not survive.
It has held me through joy and heartbreak.
It stayed, even when I criticized it the loudest.
This body is a warrior and a companion.
It is beautiful in ways I can finally see.
It deserves to be nourished and strengthened, thanked and worshipped.
I have learned to be grateful for unanswered prayers.
For the things I wanted so deeply but was never meant to have.
What did not happen made room for what my heart truly needed.
I trust now that the universe has a plan, even when I cannot see it clearly in the moment.
Nothing in my life has been wasted.
I have learned the immeasurable value of friendship.
A circle of women who love you for who you are.
Women who let you rest in their presence.
Women who make you laugh until your face hurts (or you pee your pants).
Women who remind you of your own strength.
This kind of friendship is one of life’s greatest gifts.
And, I’ve learned that being truly in love is being fully yourself without needing to perform or prove.
It is feeling safe to rest, to dream, to grow.
It is being encouraged to become the best version of yourself, not by pressure, but by belief.
Finding this kind of love changed me.
It softened the hard edges life had carved.
It made room for laughter, partnership, and shared dreams.
It showed me that love does not ask you to shrink.
It invites you to be bodacious and brave.
I’ve come to know that growing older is not something to fear or hate.
It is a privilege.
A gift that not everyone receives.
Lines on my face, glitter in my hair, the slight ache in my hip and knees, bunions!
These are signs of a life well lived.
Proof that I have been here, and that I am still becoming.
As I’ve approached this decade, I’ve discovered I care less about things but in the best ways.
I say no to things I’m not interested in.
I’m learning just to let people be who they are and decide how I will make space for them (or not).
I speak up more often and tolerate far less nonsense.
I choose loafers over heels (see bunion reference above).
I move my body to be strong and agile, not to impress anyone (except ME).
I unapologetically celebrate my birthdays.
Turning 50 feels like arriving.
Less proving.
More living.
Y’all life is so precious.
We do not know how many sunrises we get.
So eat the cake.
Take the trip.
Book the photoshoot.
Reply to the text.
Say yes to the experiences that make you feel alive.
And drink the good bottle of wine on a random Tuesday.
Cheers to being alive.
Cheers to celebrating the years behind me and the years still to come.
Cheers to becoming more myself with every day I am given.
Thanks to the amazing team of LOCAL women who helped bring a fun idea I had for a birthday photoshoot to life. You all made me feel so glamorous and beautiful.
Photographer: @lodencreative
Makeup: @ogmakeupandlashes
Hair: @shantelkhair
Spraytan: @glow.yqv
