About this whole business of growing older...
I do believe, if approached right, or you are lucky, growing older is a free-ing experience. You see the futility of clinging to the past, the present, or even the future. You can, now that the hustle and bustle of life are over, take the time to look inside of yourself and see how far you have deviated or have had to deviate from the real you, your inner core; see how far the distance is between who have become, and who you actually are. Naturally, you are looking at this from the point in time you are in now, from all the experiences that you have gone through, from the reactions of your old classmates whom you have re-discovered, and who knew you as you were those long innocent years ago, and still love you, from your new-found wisdom, spirituality, or belief system, and you realize, with sheer amazement, that you are at that time of life, when you can actually free yourself of limiting, binding, downsizing thoughts.
And I think this is especially true for women, simply because as their life progresses, they end up wearing so many hats and try to become so many people, so that the one single thing every woman values deep down, that is, is her home and family remain intact. However, there is the very real fear that the day you hang up all your hats, you will look at yourself and wonder who you are...Thankfully, the consoling-companion thought is that you are just at the right time of life to free yourself, to get your real self back.