40 and fabulous? - meet Wanda
Today I'm turning forty, it's kind of a big deal, yet at the same time it's not.
It feels a bit surreal. Forty year-olds are middle-age so that means I am no longer young but not old either and this is kind of a consolation.
My friends age along with me like our friendships. With age comes the wisdom (usually, but it's not a logic consequence), acceptance of what we are.
Who's Wanda then?
Wanda is a person...
... with an unhappy childhood and adolescence marked by bullying.
... who always had to learn to do things by herself because no one has never helped her or gave advice.
... who has felt insecure because constantly called "stupid" by her classmates.
... who was able to react and be in charge of her life.
... a strong person, who went abroad all by herself to chase her dreams.
... who's shrinking her family circle because she thinks relationships have to work like a two-way street and not one-way.
... who prefers to stay alone rather than be in bad company. For this reason she has left friends along the way because it wasn't worth it.
... who has lost friendships, when she was immature to understand their importance, but who has got back some of them later on.
... who ofthen does not show her feelings openly even though she would like to say to that friend far away that she's special.
... who is sui generis.
... who has always felt a little abandoned and this makes her feel alone sometimes, even in the middle of a big crowd.
... who has always had to fight in order to get what she wanted and in the end she got rewarded.
... who demand too much from herself, she can stay awake until two a.m. to plan a party in every detail and yet be unsatisfied of the final result.
... who doesn't feel lucky even when she should be and often she see the glass half empty.
... who has changed her nights in the clubs for evenings on the couch to watch tv with the kids.
... who would never go back to when she was twenty and to that freedom. During those years she was full of energy but also uncertain about her future. Today she has more answers and certainties and this gives her freedom.
... who collects shoes, bags and degrees.
... who loves fashion and vogue.
... creative and can have fun just with a piece of paper and a pencil in her hand.
... who loves black and who couldn't give up her high heels even during pregnancy.
... who loves to travel and meet new cultures.
... who use(d) to fight stress in the kitchen making small pastry works but now she feels stressed because she cannot find time for her anti-stress.
... moody, who changes her mind as fast as she can change a pair of shoes.
... is a ticking bomb who could explode at any minutes due to her kids who are driving her crazy.
... who feels at the edge of an attack of nerves and if she doesn't find as soon as possible a clone to do her heavy work home.
But has Wanda learned/understood in forty years?
Wanda has learned...
... that you should always be yourself because the others are already taken.
... that you souldn't be ashamed of asking help.
... that soon or later you'll get what you wanted, but you should create the situations rather than sitting and waiting for.
... that you should live your life as an actor, not a spectator.
She has discovered...
...that at forty you hear more often the comment "you look good for your age"
...that you look forward going to bed as much as you looked forward going out once.
...that if you want to make a dirty Martini you don't really need a Martini.
...that one day in a spa is not a lux but a necessity.
... that it's better to save money you used to spend on drinks because the way you'll feel in the morning isn't worth it.
... that when you take pictures anyone can look twenty with the right angle, light, hue and Photoshop.
The most important thing she realized?
Wanda is exactly where she wants to be, with her little and imperfect family celebrating the forty years she's been granted!