I got the d*mn memo

The current advice is to be 'Fit by 40'. Because as you age its harder and harder to lose weight and to stay in shape. As my 40th birthday approached, I told myself that I would take better care of myself when I was in my 40s.

As part of my birthday celebration (which included a planned Caribbean vacation):

• I joined a gym
• I got my first skin cancer checkup
• I joined a dating service after several years of being single (and met my husband)

I actually had a few years of being fit and healthy and then my pesky health issues started and that cancer thing, but now more than a decade later I am a gym junkie where I go three times a week.

So I did get the damn memo on being fit at 40 and take care of my health. Its not my fault everything else happened and put me in my current dilapidated state. But before I start the 'woe is me' mentality, I will say I am proud of myself for some of the things I have accomplished in that time.

• I learned to kayak and snow shoe
• I took up knitting and crocheting and hope to sell some items in a local store this fall
• I greatly increased my medical vocabulary
• I took a weedy neglected garden at the house we bought and now can say it will bloom from February through November (no small feat in southern New England)
• I made lots of new friends both on and off line
• I started a little blog.
• I think I just made lemonade out of life's lemons.