Embrace Life Wholeheartedly and Ride It Like a B!tch – Today

I’ve seen a lot of posts lately about women turning 50. These women are looking at it as a positive and looking forward to what life has to bring as well as encouraging younger women.  While discussing these stories with a (much younger LOL) friend who knows my story, she strongly encouraged (okay shoved) me to write my story on turning 60.  WTH?!  I’m sixty today?!!

My life surely didn’t follow the norm from the day I was born but that’s a story for another day. This story is about meeting 50 kicking it in the ass and sliding into sixty with the adrenaline pumping!   So how did this all start?  Well at 49 I met my soulmate and partner in crime, Michael. The day we picked up our marriage license at the county Coroner’s office I knew this would not be an ordinary partnership. 

The First Adventure

I have owned my business and worked from home for nearly 16 years now and Michael is retired. So the adventures began with both of us sitting at our computers and Michael looked up and said, “I’ve always wanted to try skydiving.”  Without a moment’s hesitation I replied, “Okay let’s do it.”  Two weeks later we were in a very small (teeny tiny) airplane with both of us strapped to a ‘partner’. It was thrilling and then I found myself sitting on the door of the airplane with my feet on the wing support and the instructor said in my ear, “Roll forward.”  OMG the adrenaline as I rolled out of that airplane was like nothing I had ever experienced! As you’ll see in the video, once the free fall was over and we were floating gently under the parachute I was ready to be on the ground.  Everyone should do this at least once just to step out of your comfort zone.  Maybe it won’t start a love affair with high adrenaline activities like it did with me but you’ll have the experience to treasure and share. 

Adventures on 4 Wheels

Soon after this hubby started to infect me with his love of cars. Our first purchase was a ‘03 Mustang. While we never got Mustang Sally on the track, it planted a seed. And I’ll never forget the sound of my 12 year old son giggling uncontrollably in the back seat when we did donuts in empty parking lots. We went from there to our bright Yellow C4 Corvette, Kita, and started hitting the car shows. Kita never placed but oh was she fun to cruise in! After Kita, we bought an ‘08 Shelby Mustang GT 500.  Sky, as we named her, consistently places at the car shows and has some serious horsepower. I fell in love with convertibles and we had a couple roadster style cars before I found my perfect convertible – an ‘02 Mustang GT Convertible in the most awesome blue!  I’m happy to say that Piper has picked up a few car show trophies as well. 

 

During that period we had adventures on four wheelers, dirt bikes and a sandrail in S.C., Las Vegas, and California as well as snowmobiles in New England.  My teenage son accompanied us on many of these trips and whenever he had to ride behind Mom you could hear him yelling, “You’re trying to kill me!”  Guess he didn’t care for my driving. LOL He was especially vocal when I rounded a curve with the snowmobile on one ski. 

I also love high flying adventure but after skydiving, I decided I’d rather have a little more control. Our next big adventure was flying WW2 fighter planes and having a dog fight! Seriously awesome! Hubby and I had separate planes and “co-pilots.” The planes are kind of like drivers ed cars where the instructor has controls and can take control any time.  They take off from the airport and then let you take control. Talk about a rush – flying over the bay in San Diego!  They then instruct you how to ‘engage’ the other plane in a simulated dog fight.  I won (not really)!  I thought everything went perfectly but when we landed my ‘co-pilot’ told my husband, “She’s not afraid of anything! She kept banking the plane during the dog fight and almost ran us into the ocean!”  I just looked at him and said, “You were in the plane too. I knew you wouldn’t let us crash.”  I had absolute trust in my co-pilot. 

My next high flying adventure was a Powered Wing (Powered Parachute). A powered wing is a personal aircraft with a propeller-driven cart suspended from a parachute, which acts as the wing. While I loved flying the plane, imagine being in the air on something not much bigger than a bicycle!  Once again we were over the bay in San Diego and it was beautiful.  The pilot takes you up and then says, “Okay, you have the controls.”  He then relaxes and points out the sights (like I was looking LOL) while you are in full control.  It was a little scary and totally exhilarating. 

Speed on 4 Wheels!

Now, back to adventures on 4 wheels!  You see a pattern here? LOL  On my 53rd birthday, my gift was to ride in an Indy Car, with a professional driver, at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Little did anyone suspect what this would lead to.  

A few years after that I did a ride along in a drift car and then for my 58th birthday I drove a Top Alcohol Dragster at the very same dragstrip we had been watching the NHRA pros race on. I had 3 “runs” down the dragstrip. The maximum speed for these cars is 150 (they govern them) and in my final pass I did 149.  I crawled out of the car shaking and smiling.  On the way home I said, “I want my own drag racing car and I want to race.” Of course the reply from hubby was, “Ok, we’ll start looking for one.”  

I was 59 by the time we found a car and had it ready to take to the dragstrip. My 94 Mustang, Roxy, is not the fastest but she’s perfect for me to learn how to drag race.  There is A LOT more to it than driving in a straight line as quick and fast as you can!  Before I sat in Roxy, I had never even done a burn out!  It’s always fun at the little local dragstrip we go to and I’m generally the only woman there and definitely the only 60 yr old woman!  I love the surprise and encouragement of the other drivers who are mostly in their twenties or thirties.  Every single pass I make is an adrenaline rush and learning experience.  

Live life – whether it’s ‘on the edge like me or not – by embracing every new day as the gift. It really is what we make it and we can choose joy.  We can heal our hearts and our souls by pursuing our dreams – whether they be to jump out of a plane mid- flight, become a drag racer or just become an artist, a musician or a better person overall all. If you want to do something, do it. The time isn’t ‘when we’re retired’ or ‘when I’ve lost more weight’ or ‘when the cows come home’.  The time will never be ‘just right.’ The time is right now. Do that thing that’s on your heart. Don’t wait. Don’t waste another minute. DO it. I’m looking forward to what the next ten years has in store.

 

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