I am turning 50 tomorrow. I know it is a cliche but I really do not know where the time went. I really do feel that just yesterday I was playing in the ditch with Dale, taking pictures for the school yearbook, studying in college of beginning my first teaching job. It comforts me to know that I would not want to go back and relive any part of my life. It might be fun to visit again but not to go back and actually live there. The good is always tinted with the bad. Achievements are always bittersweet with the memories of disappointments. I want to look ahead - to learn from the first 50 so that the next 50 are even better. There is no benefit in regrets or reliving the past over and over.

I love looking around me and seeing all of the positive aspects of me life.

My family - watching my dear nieces and nephews now raising kids of their own.

Mom and Dad aged but still sharp and with so much to share and impart to

us children. Friendships that are deep due to the time and care that has gone into

them for so long. I am 50 and I do not want to go back - I want to go forward.

Thank you Lord for the life that you have blessed me with.