Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been

by ⋅ 1 Comment

You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing. Michael Pritchard


Life is good. I am 53 years old today. I’ve never felt so great, so young and happy! I know the past had come and gone. I know I wasted parts of it. Once upon a time, life looked gloomy. The clouds always looked grey. The sun never shone. The birds never sang. The colors of the world was just black and white. I never knew there was life after a death of a precious child. I forgot how to smile. I guess in each one of us there resides some survival or coping mechanism… or perhaps I was just touched by my angel. We get touched at some point in our lives if we allow it to happen.

Like my age, I don’t mind if people ask my age. After all, age is an issue of mind over matter. “If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter” said Mark Twain. I think it is a compliment when college friends tell me that I look so much better now than before. I can say that confidence played a role. Taking care of oneself is important. Love yourself first before you can love others.

Smiling is easy now even as I wake up with the sunlight streaming down my face and the birds chirping by the bay window. It is the smile that adds sparkle in my heart and the twinkle in my eyes. It is what makes me who I am today that I could not achieve in my youth.

I am out of words today yet grateful for all the blessings God has given me. I am thankful for the second blooming in life. Life at the age of 53 is indeed just the beginning of a new life that has opened before me.

To celebrate the smile and the laughter, here is a 10-second video.
Thank you Nuffnang for the lovely birthday birthday present (the LED billboard for this blog)

Posted in: Family Celebrations ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

About Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

You may contact Noemi (noemidado @ gmail.com) for speaking and consultancy services in the following areas: Parenting in the Digital Age (includes pro-active parenting on cyber-bullying and bullying) ; Social Business ; Reinventing One’s Life; and social media engagement. Our parenting workshop is called "Prep to Prime (P2P): Parenting in the Digital Age (An Un­Workshop)" P2P Un­Workshops are conducted by two golden women in their prime, Noemi and Jane, who have a century’s worth of experience between them. They are both accomplished professionals who chose to become homemakers. This 180­degree turn also put them on a different life course which includes blogging, social media engagement and citizen advocacy. They call their un­workshops Prep to Prime or P2P, for short, to emphasize the breadth of their parenting experience. They tackle different aspects and issues of parenting ­­ from managing pregnancies, prepping for the school years of children, dealing with househelp, managing the household budget, to maximizing one’s prime life and staying healthy through the senior years.

Post Navigation