This week I celebrated my 50^th birthday. A year ago after what seemed to be the worst birthday of my life (which had nothing to do with my age) I began making plans for my fiftieth to ensure that it would be my best birthday ever. I informed my family that the following year they would be throwing me the biggest birthday party ever (yeah, I’m bossy like that). We would invite everyone who was or had ever been an important part of my life.The guest list would be like “this is your life, Debbie Hyde!" There would be lots of food and drink and music - a HUGE celebration with all of the people that I love. Thinking about that wonderful party got me through my 49^th birthday and the months to follow.

Before the end of my birthday month, I moved into a little guest house on a ranch in Chappell Hill, Texas. By May a long and agonizing divorce was finally over. By July, I purchased an 80 year old bungalo and began the process of making it my own. Soon it was autumn and I prepared for a visit from three of my dearest friends. Fall also brought more change and I accepted a new job offer and by December I left my beloved Imago Dei. The holidays brought lots of family celebration and in January we welcomed the newest member of our family Henry Wisdom Hyde. I thought the winter would never end. Cold weather and family illness, some days seemed so bleak. Finally, spring time! Easter and family and sunshine! My family asked if they should begin to plan my party? I pictured the huge extravaganza in my head and smiled to myself and answered, “I would really rather just have a quiet dinner at home.” And so we did.

At the end of the evening, my five year old grandson, Jonas asked if he could read me a bedtime story. He chose “Curious George’s Birthday Surprise".

It was undoubtedly the best birthday ever.

Well here it is, my first attempt at blogging. I am fully aware that even as I write these words, the rest of the world has probably already moved on from blogging to the next greatest thing. Lucky for me, I was never the girl that jumped off the bridge just because everyone else was doing it, I was the girl who either jumped first, or waited until I was good and ready even if all my friends had moved on to another bridge. Well, I think I'm good and ready now to add my two cents worth into the fountain of opinion and information.

That is why we blog, isn't it? We all feel as though we have something to say, something to contribute that someone, somewhere might be interested in knowing. I realize that is an over generalization. The question for me is really more "why blog now?". Well, now for me happens to be the beginning of my fifty-first year of life, a new decade. I realize that I live in a culture where women don't really like to talk about such things, at least not in a positive way. I, on the other hand, am actually rather excited about it. Each decade has been like a new piece of the puzzle that eventually becomes ..... me. The shape changes every year (literally and figuratively) and I get a little better idea of what the big picture looks like.

I was recently inspired by a sweet friend of mine who chronicled "30 in 30", thirty things she had never done before, in her 30th year. (thank you Anh). It made me think about all of the new experiences we all have every day, at every age - many of which that go unnoticed or unappreciated. Fifty (or 30 or 80, for that matter) is not an age of missed opportunities and "what-ifs", it is an age of possibilities and new adventures. I have recently made choices to direct my life on a simpler, less complicated path. I do not in any way believe that this path will make my life less interesting. I have a beautiful life, but if you blink, you might miss it. For me, this blog is a place where I can bring pause to some of the simple and not so simple things that make my life uniquely mine, in hopes that you may take the moment to enjoy your own beautiful life.