Women's Health and Fitness - what does it mean to you?

I was going to turn this into a kind of generic, health and fitness site for women of all ages.

But over the last few weeks, I've had reason to start thinking harder about my own health and fitness - as a 48 year old woman. I had two interesting conversations with completely different, but amazing women, and I realized that the three of us are in diffrent, but similar places in our lives.

One of those conversations was with my mother, the other with a friend. Each of us will are going to be reaching the last year of our particular decades this year. For my mother, that means turning 69. For my friend, 59. And for me, 49.

It's a funny thing, to think of life in terms of the last "decade." For me, it's first. I used to think in terms of turning another year older, and time passed in years. But I've noticed that the older I get, the quicker time seems to pass. My oldest son reaches a milestone on his own this year - he turns 18. And that's a milstone for me, as well. It maens that I've raised one of my sons into manhood.

I can't help wondering about that, about what that means in terms of our relationship. What happens now? Does he need me less? Do we become "friends"? If I'm supposed to treat him like an adult, what does that mean, exactly?

At the moment, I seem to be finding more questions than answers.

But the one "truth" that seems to be obvious for me is that this year, more than yaers past, are the beginning of a new period in my life. It's a little scary, and a little empowering.

I think one of the things that I've finally realized is that "I" am the expert in my life. As my friend put it, "My feelings are completely normal for someone with my experiences and my life." I like that.

So, I guess that now I'm acknowledging that if I'm going to be "the boss of me", and the expert on who I am and what I want, I'd better start figuring out exactly who and what that is. Better buckle up, because it's going to be a bumpy ride!