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Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 3161
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2008 - 02:06 pm: | 
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(This will be me in a few years, so I can totally relate!)
Prince, Michael Jackson and Madonna. One last name, three big birthdays. The big 5-0. Mike crosses the threshold today (Happy Birthday!). Madonna hit it on August 16, and Prince is the elder of the bunch, having turned 50 on June 7.
Fifty? How did that happen?
To some, 50 is a marvelous milestone; to some it's a time to re-evaluate; to others, it's the beginning of the end. When we see our icons turn 50, we can't help but wonder…which one is it for them? Unlike the millions, the mansions and the fame—turning 50 is something we all can relate to.
Aging, the great equalizer.
But, of course, puzzling over this trifecta of pop royalty dashing over the hill is less about them, really, than it is about us. When one has vivid memories of junior high or high school make-out sessions to "Darling Nikki" and all of sudden Prince is 50, it is only natural to think: "How the hell old am I?" When you can pull out old photographs of you dressed up like Madonna at a seventh grade Halloween Party, and now Madonna is older than your mom was when she took you to that party, it hits you: "Jeez, I'm really getting up there"....
Fifty is an age that, for most people, sparks careful reflection on the successes and failures in their lives. Could this really be so different for the ultra-famous?
Take Madonna. She must look at her 50th birthday with pride at the fact that she is still making it rain on performers half her age. Forget Beyonce. With a new hit tour, Madonna is the still baddest chick in the game.
Transfer that thought to our own lives: We may not have a sold-out tour. But in giving props to the "Material Girl," we can take a moment to look at ourselves and think, "I did good." Reflecting on a life well-lived is a great feeling whether you're a pop star on stage or a mom fixing Pop-tarts in your kitchen.
And what about Prince? As one of the most talented musicians of our time, he is still heralded as royalty and with age he has become sophisticated and mature and, in many ways, more fabulous. His concerts are still the hottest tickets in town, and he has successfully transitioned from the "big freak" of the '80s to the biggest talent of the 20th century....
At 50, it's a good time to look back at our youthful indiscretions and get a hearty chuckle out of them. The hair that made our parents crazy, the drugs, the wild behavior that almost got us sent to a military academy.
Character-builders, we call those experiences now, challenges and great memories. And hey, Prince's early days make most of ours look about as wild as our great-aunt's Mah Jong game. But like Prince, we can turn out alright, maybe even get better with age.
Then there's Michael Jackson. Poor thing. He represents the less joyful side of turning 50. That point where we all look up and say, "What the hell happened?" One day we're riding high and the next we look up and everything is in the crapper. Kids gone bad, career gone wrong. At 35, there was resilience; at 50, hopelessness creeps in and sometimes stays.
Michael Jackson represents the part of us that thinks: Could this happen to us? Could we live the life of our dreams and then one day, we're being pitied by the world? If the most famous man in the world can crumble like this, what hope is there for us mere mortals?
Plenty. That's the good thing about gauging ourselves against Michael. It's easy to look at him and feel like we could never possibly be that weird or screwed up. Our lives may be drama-filled, but M.J. serves as a cautionary tale to us all. Take a fifty-and-fabulous approach to aging and never let your life turn into a "Thriller."
Like Madonna and Prince and Michael, we all approach 50 from different places. Whether we are pleased to be 50, lucky to be 50 or sad and confused to be 50, if none of them have faded from the scene, then we don't have to either....
Full article: http://www.theroot.com/id/47810 |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 7377
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2008 - 03:48 pm: |
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Well, this was me 8 years ago.
I must say thirty was a bigger milestone. I guess because we all were saying, "Never trust anybody over 30"--and then there we all were 30. At 40 I guess I started feeling it. But 50 I suppose I started feeling lucky I'd lived so long, since so many brothers I knew hadn't made it that far or made it in one piece.
One thing it did for me, which, at least it seems not to have happened for these show biz types, is that I had to quit bsing myself that I wasn't no kid no more had forever. You know any day now can be the day.
It is kind of liberating, in a way. Some days I get out, the sun is shinging, the air is clean, I feel good and I say, "This would be a good day to die."
I have seen so many others die so miserably..
In that way I suppose I am grateful for each day I wake up healthy and in my right mind, as they say... |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 3164
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2008 - 10:04 am: |
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Chris, nice post. For me, these "milestone years" have not coincided neatly with decade marks. My biggest change was my first birthday shortly after the birth of my children (in my 30s). I felt very suddenly and completely "Adult." The feeling was at times panic-inducing and liberating and calming and all sorts of other conflicting notions. But very definitely I felt that life was no longer necessarily all about me, but a much bigger picture.
I am very much looking forward to 50. I am thinking of doing something drastic for this transition. A tattoo? A piercing? A new hairstyle? A name change? I'll hafta think on it. LOL  |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 12810
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2008 - 12:48 pm: |
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People often comment on how I don't appear as old as I am, and I pride myself on being able to relate to folks of all ages, from all walks of life.
Way back when, 2 months following my high school graduation, on the 18th of August I celebrated my 18th birhtday. I was told that this was my "golden birthday", and a golden girl I was; fresh-faced and nubile, suspended on the brink of a new adventure when, come September, I would be leaving the cocoon of my placid small town to go off the the University of Illinois.
At this juncture of my existence, it occurred to me that never again would I be so carefree and pristine and how I longed to forever revel in the eternal moment. Somewhere, deep inside me, this idea took on a life of its own and enscounced itself in my psyche.
Many moons have come and gone since that summer so long ago. My path took me in many directions and led to both joy and sorrow as I became a time-traveler and a witness to a panorama of history. My persona became layered with different identities and temperaments, but that 18-year-old girl still dwells in the labryinth of whom I am. She still surfaces now and then and dispels the illusion of old age.
My gold-plated dream never tarnished. |
Urban_scribe
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Urban_scribe
Post Number: 694
Registered: 05-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2008 - 11:41 am: |
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I'm looking forward to 50. I've always looked upon that half-centennial mark as a true milestone in life. When I was in my 20s, everyone (those who've been there, done that) told me I would feel different once I turned 30. I didn't feel any different. Then they told me I'd feel different once I turned 35. I didn't feel any different. Then they told me I'd feel different once I turned 40. I didn't feel any different. Now they're telling me I'm gonna feel different once I turn 45. Needless to say, I'm skeptical. But 50 - 50's gonna be HUGE! I don't know why, I just think that once I turn the big 5-0, I'm finally gonna feel "different".
I have to add that on the 24th of this month, my eldest son turned 18. He said he didn't feel different. But for the first time in my life, I felt old - acknowledging that I am now the parent of an adult-child.
He's done me proud - very, very proud! I could brag about him all day. He's now off to junior college where he's supposedly working toward becoming a pharmacist. He works part-time at a pharmacy, so it's a perfect fit. But he told me that might change. He's considering transferring to a 4-year college and earning a Fine Arts degree because, get this, he REALLY wants to be a writer. I told him to stick with Pharmaceutical Technician cuz there ain't no money in writing.
(Hey, Chris, my son writes SF/Fantasy, too).
And hey, Prince's early days make most of ours look about as wild as our great-aunt's Mah Jong game.
I love this line! |
Ferociouskitty
Veteran Poster
Username: Ferociouskitty
Post Number: 439
Registered: 02-2008
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 01, 2008 - 06:55 pm: |
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MJ at 50...naturally
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 12818
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 02, 2008 - 04:11 pm: |
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Amazing! What a great improvement on how Michael actually looks now. |
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