Midlife is a grand affair.

It’s the equivalent of putting everything you’ve dealt with, learned, tried and done, down on pieces of paper and tossing them in front of an industrial fan in the open window of a 30 story building and watching as it all swirls, twirls, and dances to the ground.

Some of them will catch a gust of wind and be blown into the next block to be run over by the street sweeper and never seen again.

Some will slowly drift into a tree, hiding from you, until you finally see it and pluck it up again.

Some will gently fall to the ground, easy for you to pick back up and stuff in your pocket. Things never to be lost or taken away from you.

Midlife is a grand affair.

Not one bit worried by the things that blew away never to need dealt with again. Like the ex-husband that you never, ever have to deal with again now that the kids are grown. Even if you see him at a wedding it’s like seeing a stranger that seems somehow familiar yet totally unrecognizable.

Finding the bits you LOVED as a child but put aside when more important things like children and mortgages came alone. Now that there are fewer people relying on you, you can take up drawing, the piano or gardening again.

And the things never to have left you. The relationship you have with your children, your spiritual practice, and love of crisp fall hikes.

It seems that at midlife we learn what can be let go of and what is truly important. We learn what feeds our soul and what drains us and isn’t worth the anxiety it causes.

We learn to say, “What the hell!” and take up a hobby that we could possibly be too old or out of shape for. Simply because it might feed your soul, fulfill a dream, or help you get into better shape.

Midlife is a time of becoming who you always really thought you were.