June 25 is my birthday, six months before Christmas my birthday has always been ‘perfect’ since it splits the year in half. I never really celebrated my birthday since I was always the person making parties for everyone else. This year I am turning fifty however, and I have mixed emotions about it. I have lived numerous lives in these fifty years from child, single working girl, mother, pediatric cancer caregiver & charity founder, divorced woman, single parent, author & outspoken advocate. I have grown up with some really incredible people and have made lots of special friends along the way. I have watched technology advance while the family has fallen apart. I have seen media evolve into a 24/7 spectacle of name calling and accusations while civilized behavior is a thing of the past. I have gone from a time when parents and elderly were there for advice and being the caregiver to being that person myself. I have watched my daughters grow and suddenly am faced with an impending new title of ‘mother-in-law’. Life has changed and so have I. No one can stop time and it is the passage of it that makes us all a bit melancholy . I sometimes long for the days of my carefree youth when life was simpler and society seemed nicer. I don’t like turning fifty but I don’t have any choice other than to hope my second act is just as rewarding as my first!