Each birthday that has a "0" in the ones column generates some sort of anticipation ... yippy 10, wow 20, eh 30, whoa 40, ack 50 ... and so on and so forth. But when I hit 50 I was sooooo grateful to be alive that I threw myself a grand paella party and invited all my most dear and longtime friends. My daughters and sister helped me cook up a storm, rally flowers from the neighbors and help string white lights along the porch - all 600 square feet of it. Celebration galore. But, I was still 50, and lots of life was behind me.

A trip to Puerto Rico less than a year later as a new widow provided a moment when I went to sleep on the beach in the past and awoke, looking through palm fronds to clear blue skies and the future. So as I turned my gaze upon what might lie ahead instead of living so much in what had already passed, The Unit - that's those two daughters of mine and my sister and me - urged me to take a look at what could be some firsts after 50.

The Firsts After 50 list became an official reality with a whitewater rafting trip (a quick aside here based on a typo I just made ... think about what you get when raft is mistyped and the "r" and the "f" are transposed - haha). The list grew to contain my first trip to Europe and my first time speaking French in a French speaking country, making my own bassoon reeds and actually performing on them; learning to drive a stick shift not just in theory but in practice, and owning my own little manual "all-wheel drive to go anywhere" (and did) sporty car; serving as my own contractor and lining up the building of an entire house. A New Year's pledge resulted in finally being able to "turn the corner" on crocheting and I made scarves from yarn from local llamas. I built my first successful fire in a woodstove and became a master of fire building in the big stone fireplace in my house and in our cabin. I cooked over an open fire. I was in my 50's before I allowed the Democrat in me to stand up and be counted. I see these are essentially many things I'd always desired but felt too timid or constrained to try.

My Firsts After 50 list also includes losing my mother. But a few years later I added the joyous first of marriage to my Frank ... his true first at age 58. A honeymoon to Nova Scotia added my first bowl of seafood chowder to my list. I became a mother-in-law. :)

And, I saw Ringo in Nashville and Paul in Las Vegas before it was too late ... for them or for me.

P.S. And, how could I forget!? Another first after fifty ... knowing how to use a corkscrew!

P.S.S. I remember AND have new experiences so, this will simply be the continuing list:

•  a cruise to the Caribbean

•  riding a tandem bike ...