What is it about getting older that freaks us women out so much? I still remember my Mom telling my brother, sister & I that we were not allowed to celebrate, in any way, her 30th birthday. It was to be viewed as a day of mourning. Well, we thought she was just being dramatic so we went ahead & made cards & gifts & tried to give them to her. She didn't come out of her bedroom that entire day! The door stayed closed, so we pressed our ears against it & could hear her sobbing. She cried from morning to night. I remember thinking that she was going to get dehydrated from loss of fluids or that her eyes were going to swell up like the Goodyear Blimp. Her dinner came & went, as did her lovely white frosted cake. I asked my dad why she was so sad & he said something to the effect - "She turned 30 today. She's old & not happy about it." PLEASE!!

My mother was married with three kids by the time she was 30. I didn't have any of these things by my big 3 - 0, nor did I really know what I wanted to do with my life, so I was stressing. I had two choices really. I could stick my head in an oven & act like my life was over or I could look at my thirties as a whole new adventure. I chose the latter. I spent my big B-Day doing something I had always dreamt about - going to Paris. I drank fab wine & ate the most amazing cheese & food ever. I walked around the city with a baguette just like the natives. I spent a day at the Louvre & saw The Mona Lisa in person & stood there & cried because pictures just do not do it justice. There were many discoveries on that trip; from Angelina's hot chocolate to being too shy at first(me- shy?!)to speak the French I had praticed(thank god for Tom, my personal interpreter). I came home a changed women.

My thirties so far have been pretty amazing. I've gone to more places that were in my dreams. I have finally figured out my true passion & am pursuing it wholeheartedly. I've left behind the insecure, body conscious, twenty-something girl. I now try lots of things, even if I'm not always good at them. Dawn in her twenties would never have kept a daily journal because she wasn't a professional writer. A cookbook would have be out of the question since I'm no Julia Child. Do you still detect a bit of stress - freakout - uneasiness in me? Here's why.

My birthday is next week & I was feeling good - actually looking forward to it. I was on the phone with a dear friend a couple of days ago, talking about my big day. Now I love, adore & admire this friend. She a vivacious 39 year old who honestly looks about 28. She's always been more than supportive of me, so what was said or rather the way it was said, was a bit of a shock. It went something like this:
Friend - "Dawn, how old are you going to be? Thirty-two?"
Me - "No, I'm going to be thirty-four."
Friend -"What!!! You're going to be thirty-four?! OH MY GOD!!! I thought you were only thirty-two! WOW!"

I'm going to let that incident roll off of me, but, I'm going to ask something of all women out there. Women - let's support each other! Let's make it our personal goal to lift fellow sisters up & help to make them feel gorgeous. We women are constantly bombarded with the image that youth = beauty. It's everywhere from magazines to movies. Even our damn gynos are telling us to have our kids by the age of 35 because after that, were too old! So, let's not add to that. We can all try not to pass our own insecurities about age, beauty or anything else on to each other. Let's make it our mission to kick all that crap in the ass! Are you with me? WOMEN ARE FABULOUS AT ANY AGE!!! Repeat after me, WOMEN ARE FABULOUS AT ANY AGE!!!

Posted by Dawn Falcone @ 2:35 PM 9 comments

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