Our oldest daughter turned 50 today

[3catwoman3]

9. "Doing OK" is such a relative term. It can mean being functional enough...

...to attend to your grooming and health, to go to the grocery store, to go to work, etc. It can mean being able to be out and about and enjoy life. It can mean not sitting in a dark room in despair.

I've not yet been thru death of my husband, and, thank goodness, not of either of my sons. I am the only remaining member of my family of origin - younger and only brother died at only 23 in a scuba diving adventure gone awry, my dad at age 90 in 2011, and my mom at age 98 almost a year ago. As Plimsoll said above, time doesn't really heal the sadness. It does, I think, soften it to various extents, but there are always moments when the losses feel very fresh.

Hugs from another Martha (albeit different spelling).

On a slightly lighter note, I once read about a woman who said she had to stop claiming to be 39 when her daughter turned 39.