As I’m approaching 50 I’m realizing there are quite a few things about aging that no one tells you. I’ve heard plenty of talk about the way pounds creep on with middle age, so I’ve tried to keep an eye out for that.

And I’m pleased to say that I actually weigh a few pounds less than I did a decade ago.

However.

While there may be less flesh overall, things have moved.

My waist is not so trim as it once was. My hips–what IS that extra layer there?!? Upper arms are, um, softer. My chin isn’t quite so firm as it once was. Even my hands are more . . . well . . . gnarled.

No one told me my body was going to readjust. Even my teeth have moved! My dentist told me it’s common among folks my age. Seriously?!?

But my body isn’t the only thing to shift. It seems my attitude has as well. The upshot being that I don’t mind all this readjusting as much as I would have expected.

As I look around at others in the vicinity of my age, I see that what I’m experiencing is what you might call common. It’s just that I hadn’t noticed it in anyone else until it started happening to me. Which just might mean that women younger than me don’t notice my shifting while women older than me ignore it because they’re too busy focusing on their own redistribution of cells.

Which is to say I’m pretty sure no one else is all that interested. 

I went car shopping over the weekend. My salesman was 23 YEARS OLD. That means I’m–ahem–roughly TWICE his age. And so . . . I acted like it. I expressed my excitement over things like the headrest being on the drivers’ seat backwards (which means there’s room for a ponytail or hair clip). And when he said he has a hard time waking up in the morning I told him all about my sunrise alarm clock. He made a note on his cell phone to look for one.

I was NOT hip. I was NOT cool (I don’t even think it’s cool to say someone is cool anymore). In short, I acted my age. And it was such a relief.

Ultimately, that’s my takeaway. My body is settling into a new configuration and I may as well embrace it. I suspect this is just part one of what’s yet to come. And while striving for overall good health is wise, I have no interest in trying to turn back the hands of time.

I’ve often said that I have an old soul. Guess my body is finally catching up.