The Benefits of Being "A Certain Age"

Yesterday, we were taking a friend to the doctor and I got pulled over by a Leander police officer. I had stopped at a stop sign and then turned right pretty much in front of him, so I moved right over to the left lane. I thought that's why he pulled me over, but he said it was because of the stop sign. I said, "I thought I stopped?" He then informed me that there was a difference in tapping on one's brakes and in really looking and considering traffic before moving on. Fair enough.

If I were in my 20s, I'm relatively certain (based largely on my experiences in my 20s) that I would have been given a ticket. However, a 46-year-old lady requires only a warning and a reminder to drive more cautiously.

Interestingly, he noted the small size of my car as a danger, saying if I got hit, I'd be in trouble. I wanted to say, a la "Crocodile Dundee," "You think THIS is a small car? Nah. My husband has a small car!" I fortunately digressed.

Also, in case you're my mom and you're worried, my car performs just fine in most crash tests (including the most important ones), with a US News rating of 8.5/10 stars.

Today was James's company's summer picnic, which was held at Typhoon Texas, a nearby waterpark. I last showered a couple of days ago, but today I just put on my bathing suit and walked out the door. I didn't consider shaving. I didn't paint my toenails. I am getting a cold sore, but still didn't think about wearing makeup. I didn't feel intimidated or wistful about any of the pretty young things we saw at the park. I just had fun and ate free food and enjoyed my family.

Yesterday when Mal got his Vampirina house down to play with it, he said, "Mommy! We need to dust Vampirina's bed so we can play with it!" I told James that I'd just been thinking the night before about how the 2009 me would totally judge that the 2019 me doesn't maintenance dust; I only dust when it's visible and bothering me. But I have better things to do than dust, and enough cats that being more fastidious about that wouldn't affect my allergies one bit, anyway.

Basically, I genuinely don't care what other people think (I've always not cared much, but still kind of preferred being thought of as attractive, competent, smart, etc.), I seem harmless enough not to warrant too much attention in public, and I am a lot more laid back. I'm not complaining about this age thing, even as I write this with reading glasses because just this week I've become unable to read my computer screen without them. It's all good.