The Beauty of Sixty
A Second Plateau
I am fascinated with the multitude of choices people make to create their life pathways. Some twists and turns of their own making, others are not. Yet reactions to all twists and turns again multiply and lead the way to their chosen future. There is no pathway or timeline that is better than another. But for me, my life has been defined by what has felt like two distinct summits.
I turned sixty recently, and honestly, it felt exhilarating. I think it is my favorite age of my whole life. Until now, my favorite age was 30. My high at that age felt more like a plateau that lasted several years … and I remember those years distinctly.
Thirty felt like the graduation of childhood. Behind me were all my memories of growing up, and both the many trials and fortunes that comes with it - the blessings of a loving and supportive extended family and the gatherings my mom and aunts gave us. Winning silver in a seven-state swimming competition—after ten years and thousands laps in the pool, and learning how discipline and pain can lead to strength. Earning my degree in Journalism, and even more importantly, finding my life people—my best friend Carey and my husband Peter, who’s been by my side for 35+ years. Also, I moved several times—from Glenwood Springs, to Fort Collins, Aspen, Boulder, Boston, Portland OR, and finally to Bainbridge Island. (continued below)
At 30, these experiences were behind me, and as I climbed onto that first plateau, while Peter and I visited the South Island of New Zealand, I reveled in the view back to remember it all. But then I turned toward a new peak: I wanted to create a family. I wanted to bring new life into the world, and offer a home to a soul who needed one as much as I needed her. I was ready to raise this chosen family in a chosen home.
So, thirty years later again - especially after a diagnosis that put this summit slightly into question at 57 - climbing onto this second plateau this year, felt like the most joyful milestone yet. Only now, instead of turning and seeing another mountain, all I see are hills to play on, enticing views and pathways with yet undiscovered joys.
Mostly, Sixty feels like a gentle perch, a chance to look down at the view of my last 30 years - of raising my family and now the chance to see them embark on their own individual lives. To now be able to visit them in their chosen homes and ride along with them in their adventures, and enjoy the joys of true vicarious pleasure.
No matter what comes next, I simply feel profoundly grateful and privileged, for the awesome experience, of reaching the second plateau of Sixty.
“I look at where we are, and where we started, and where we’d like to be someday.
If this is as far as we get, if this is as high as we go, I will rest in peace, but I won’t fall asleep, cause it’s better than my wildest dreams.
It’s nothing like the world that we once imagined, but doesn’t it look beautiful. And nothing lasts forever so whatever happens, I just wanted you to know:
If this is as far as we get, if this is as high as we go, I will rest in peace, but I won’t fall asleep, cause it’s better than my wildest dreams” — Marc Scibilia
Grateful.