In this podcast episode, Sally the Zen Buddhist turns 50 years old! We talk about this milestone and what’s next in the horizon.
FOLLOW SALLY:
- BLOG: https://sallyinthezen.com/
- FINDING ZEN on MEDIUM: https://medium.com/finding-zen
- MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@sallyinthezen
- INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/sallyinthezen
- PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/sallyinthezen/
If you have any questions or comments or if you would like to hear more of something in future episodes, just leave a comment on the Contacts page on my blog SallyintheZen.com.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello! Welcome to the Sally in the Zen podcast. I’m your host, Sally. I’m a Zen Buddhist caregiver taking care of my elderly folks, and always, always in pursuits to find Zen moments in everyday living. If you’re new to the podcast, welcome! If you’re not new, and you’re returning, welcome back for another adventure.
Hope all of you are staying safe, staying sane. Today’s episode is going to be quick, is going to be light and if you haven’t guessed from the title of the episode, yes, Sally the Zen Buddhist turns half century old just last week.
Since a person actually hits 50 one time in their lifetime, I wonder if this is actually a time to start having a midlife crisis? Because when I googled it, I couldn’t tell if 40 was the point it becomes downhill from there, or 50, because you got different answers out there from whatever sources. And it just got me thinking maybe I should go ahead and start having a midlife crisis here. That’s what today’s episode is all about. If you’re interested, buckle up – let’s get started.
As a Zen Buddhist and growing up with Zen Master, we’ve always believed that the physical age is insignificant. It’s not a metric that we follow too closely. Meaning in my particular family, as long as you’re healthy in heart, healthy in spirit and body and mind, when you’re happy, if you’re happy, if you’re fulfilled in life no matter where you are physically in age, that’s the essence of living a full life. And when we take a few seconds to look at the birthdays, when we become a certain age, we go, oh, okay.
And my family has a tradition where we normally cook home-cooked meals for each other. So like for Mom and Dad, I will cook their favorite meal – home cook it. And I don’t cook often. I bake more than I cook. But for those special occasions is more low-key, is more down home. Sometimes we go out to the restaurants like last year, we took Mom out to a Mexican restaurant. And she loves it, but it’s doing something that they want to do because it’s their special day. So aside from that, birthdays are really just another day for us.
Now that being said like I said before a person only turns 50 once in their lifetime. So because of that, because of this intriguing milestone that I just reached, I’m thinking I should have a midlife crisis. So I’ve been powering that for the last few weeks leading up to my birthday, which was the first week of September. Now don’t know if I preemptively wanted to have one but I found that because I threw out that energy into the Universe… the universe always listens and all I have to say is, folks, be careful for what you wish for.
Now let’s put a little color during the first week of September – the current events that was happening during the week of my birthday. So as everybody knows, we’re in the middle of a world pandemic; and now the West Coast of the United States is on fire; we had just passed the 19th anniversary of 9/11; and we’re in an election year where there’s so much unrest, it’s not even funny. So those are things that are just literally outside our door.
But inside our door, we have a muffler that I need to replace and the car shop gave me an estimate of $5,000 to repair on my 2007 Toyota RAV4. Hmmm. Pop twisted his foot and I have to half-carry,half-drag him home, and my washer is on the brink of dying, and although it wasn’t happening during my birthday week, Tropical Storm Sally is now whooping Louisiana’s butt.
So there you go. Thank you, Universe, thank you very much.
And then I got my AARP card a couple weeks ago and no, I didn’t sign up, not this year. But although I was quite enticed by their free offer to get an insulated trunk organizer. It looks actually pretty cute. It folds up small but expands to fit it all, groceries, tools, you name it. It keeps the cold stuff cold because of the insulated lining and it’s roomy and durable and designed to stay put when you’re driving around in your car. That alone was almost incentive enough to join the ’50s club. Welcome to the ’50s club. But no, I didn’t do it. I’m just going to keep this little card with this picture that says Welcome to the ’50s Club as a souvenir for when I look back many, many, many years from now and just say, hey! I remember when I turn 50. I almost got the free insulated trunk organizer.
Now here’s interesting fun facts that you probably don’t know about – about being 50. So those of you who have yet to reach this milestone, enjoy while it lasts. Those of you who have already passed it, hey I’m gaining up on you.
But according to Google, the Latin derived term for 50 is semi-centennial. I’m a semi-centennial. Excellent! And ooh, Golden Jubilee! I am at the Golden Jubilee age!
And here’s another fun fact – 60 is called sexagennial. My mind went straight into the gutter. Sorry, folks give me a second. Okay, I’m back. So the color representing 50 is golden. The flower for 50 is yellow roses and violet. And here you go. What age is over the hill? 40. If 40 is over the hill then, what the hell is 50? Decrepit? Jeepers.
I think usually at this time people would do a reflection back, looking back to look forward, and no, I’m not going to do that because I’m not in the mood to go ahead and do that. I’m always more nowadays looking forward, front and center, moving forward, moving forward with Mom and Dad. Because at this point, times just a-wasting away and rather than accumulate regrets or let my dreams gather dust, I’m not going to do that. That’s a life lesson that, at this point, I know very well – to go after what you want and there’s no more excuses anymore. No more excuses to be made. Nothing to stop me from doing what I want to do.
And what I want to do is – next stop – Mongolia.
On episode 20, I had alluded to this and I am going to make it into a future episode on just exactly what I’m going to do to make that bucket list dream happen. Fast tracking that one destination front and center because, like I said, times flying away. There’s no excuses to hold us back from going forward. And Mom and Dad are still here, still able to walk, still able to eat, still able to enjoy life. And I want to bring this for them, for us now.
The only thing really, you already know, that is stopping us from moving forward on this one is, of course, cash. So that’s a goal for us. Now that when the world itself settles down, we’re able to move around freely as we can, and I’m not expecting that for a couple more years, frankly. But that’s time enough now, from now to then, to prepare and to go.
So that’s today’s episode. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions or comments for me, drop by my blog Sally in the Zen.com. Click on the Contact page and send me your thoughts, and depending on what it is, maybe, I’ll feature it on the future episode. I thank you, thank you, thank you for spending a few minutes of your time talking about my birthday, celebrating it with me and I hope that you all stay safe and stay sane and I will talk to you again next time.
