![\"smile-1031894_1280\"](\"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/05\/smile-1031894_1280-e1463016458309-149x300.jpg\" "\\"Old")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I recently went to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2<\/em>. At one point in the movie, Yiayia is dancing in the street, dressed rather oddly.\u00a0 This made me laugh, perhaps more than it should have and I leaned over to my daughter to warn her, \u201cThat will be me in 30 years.\u201d Later that week, we went to a college performance of music inspired by Disney movies. While the band played an arrangement of \u201cBare Necessities,\u201d I thought (as I frequently do when hearing live swing music) of my grandmother and her love of dancing. I thought it would be wonderful if she were there to enjoy it with me and wondered if she would have tossed convention aside and danced in the aisles in appreciation of the music. I continued my daydream that we would all join in and how much fun it would be for spectators and musicians alike.<\/p>\n If you know me, you would realize how fanciful these thoughts are. I am and always have been a rule follower and generally shy from the spotlight. I love to dance, as long as no one is watching. I wonder if as I age, this will change, if much like my verbal filter has started to fail, my self-consciousness will begin to fade away.<\/p>\n Pondering this more (yes, sometimes I think too much) I realize the blame for this rests on societal expectations as well as my own insecurities. Why do we concern ourselves with what others think? Maybe because sometime people tell us what they think, and it is not always kind. There are expectations of how people are supposed to behave and, like it or not, our age (or the age we appear to be) influences these expectations.\u00a0 A tantrum is understandable when one is 3, it is shocking when one is 8. In the same way, an older person can get away with speaking her mind or bending the \u201crules,\u201d while one who is middle aged is expected to behave.<\/p>\n I guess as I approach my second half century around the sun, I am considering age more and what it means to me. I was raised to respect my elders and value the contributions they have made. I think that if one has lived well, there are certain privileges that come with the territory. I know many people fear the big 5-0, but I am ready to embrace it. My future is very different from my past, in some ways, I will have more freedom and I plan to enjoy it. Years ago I discovered the Red Hat Society, a social club for women over 50. Based on a poem, the idea is that the women get together, wearing a purple dress and a red hat. This type of zaniness sounds like fun to me, anyone want to join in?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I recently went to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. At one point in the movie, Yiayia is dancing in the street, dressed rather oddly.\u00a0 This made me laugh, perhaps more than it should have and I leaned over to my daughter to warn her, \u201cThat will be me in 30 years.\u201d Later that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54],"tags":[24,26,25],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-midlife","tag-aging","tag-midlife","tag-over-50"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7mJoQ-1Y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":209,"url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/taking-place-family-line\/","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":0},"title":"Cleaning in the Buff? Maybe Grandma Was On To Something","author":"Kimberly Yavorski","date":"September 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Warning: If the idea of midlife nudity scares you, you might want to turn back now. Maybe it\u2019s because I am now 50, but I find myself thinking about my female ancestors quite a bit lately. I come from a long line of strong women, and most of them, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "midlife"","block_context":{"text":"midlife","link":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/category\/midlife\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0003","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/IMG_0003-300x221.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":204,"url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/midlife-revelations\/","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":1},"title":"Midlife Revelations Found in the Wilderness","author":"Kimberly Yavorski","date":"August 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I had a much needed break from everyday life.\u00a0 We spent three rejuvenating nights camping in Shenandoah National Park, where my cell phone got only spotty service, and the questions of the day included where to hike and where to go for dinner (we didn\u2019t completely \u201crough it\u201d).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "midlife"","block_context":{"text":"midlife","link":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/category\/midlife\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0043resized","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/08\/IMG_0043resized-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":187,"url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/old-people-want-chat-snap-gram\/","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":2},"title":"Why Do Old People Want to Chat, Snap and Gram?","author":"Kimberly Yavorski","date":"July 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I am seeing conversations about Instagram and Snapchat growing in popularity and outside the typical teen demographic. Since I like being seen as an adult, and not one who is trying to be cool by desperately grasping at things to regain some appearance of youth, for years I have pretty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "midlife"","block_context":{"text":"midlife","link":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/category\/midlife\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"snapchat filters are fun","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/07\/snapchat-300x232.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41,"url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/my-worst-fear-came-true-i-inherited-my-grandmothers-chest\/","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":3},"title":"My Worst Fear Came True \u2013 I Inherited My Grandmother\u2019s Chest","author":"Kimberly Yavorski","date":"March 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"My biggest fear growing up was that someday I would have Grandma\u2019s chest. You may be questioning this statement and picturing some hideous wooden box, however, I am not talking about a Hope Chest or anything of the sort, but the chest she carried beneath her chin and above her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "family"","block_context":{"text":"family","link":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/03\/07.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":114,"url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/dinosaur-years-begin\/","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":4},"title":"And So The Dinosaur Years Begin","author":"Kimberly Yavorski","date":"May 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I am turning 50 this year and am beginning to see disturbing signs. Despite the fact that I am college-educated and see myself as an intelligent person, I am more and more being frustrated by what I don\u2019t know, specifically with regards to technology. This is amplified by the ease\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "midlife"","block_context":{"text":"midlife","link":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/category\/midlife\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/05\/IMG_0001.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/05\/IMG_0001.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/05\/IMG_0001.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/05\/IMG_0001.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/05\/IMG_0001.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/05\/IMG_0001.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":145,"url":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/helicopter-parenting\/","url_meta":{"origin":122,"position":5},"title":"The Unending Vortex of Helicopter Parenting","author":"Kimberly Yavorski","date":"May 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Helicopter parenting is here to stay. It has taken hold of society in such a way that there may be no going back. Psychologists are now calling 25 the new entrance to adulthood. For many different reasons, adult children continue (or come back) to live with their parents. College professors\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "education"","block_context":{"text":"education","link":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/category\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Publication1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/05\/Publication1-300x232.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions\/135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/inandout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}