Welcome to the post-40 years! I found my 40s to be an explosion of what I would call meaning-making. A significant decade of my life. Of course, I got a jump by having my midlife crisis (not by choice) at 38, haha. Now I’m 56. I do not feel “old,” but in the same way your knees became a symbol to you, I had a jarring revelation recently: my husband and I will likely have only one more pair of cats in our lifetime. We had our early marriage cats, we had our midlife cats, and after the current 16-y-o passes in a few years, we will likely have our older-life pair of cats. Six cats. Life is not long enough for unlimited cats (at least the way we live, lol).
Welcome to the post-40 years! I found my 40s to be an explosion of what I would call meaning-making. A significant decade of my life. Of course, I got a jump by having my midlife crisis (not by choice) at 38, haha. Now I’m 56. I do not feel “old,” but in the same way your knees became a symbol to you, I had a jarring revelation recently: my husband and I will likely have only one more pair of cats in our lifetime. We had our early marriage cats, we had our midlife cats, and after the current 16-y-o passes in a few years, we will likely have our older-life pair of cats. Six cats. Life is not long enough for unlimited cats (at least the way we live, lol).