I have been a "late bloomer" all my life, so why should I change during this, my senior years of reign? To explain that "reign" part--I am a Senior Goddess Supreme (a special, selft-appointed title, with all the attendant powers I feel like adding). ANYWAY, this late blooming pattern is not necessarily a bad idea. Let your friends try out new territories of life, and report back to you before you attempt such changes.
I dated later in teen years, since I was overweight from birth to mide-teens. I found out what sex REALLY was at 15 (I went to Catholic schools, and while they told you to confess your sins carefully, they never really divulged the many ways you COULD sin)...I did not get this sex information by experience, just by asking my mother one day when she was cooking dinner--I could tell she was less than thrilled to be delivering this momentous news to me. So that helped my general outlook on the dating game, and the male species.
I married in my later twenties, had my first baby at 30 (this was forty years ago, when people were still marrying right after high school), tried many careers horribly wrong for me before finding my ideal job in my mid-fifties.
I had my first home all to myself in my early 60s, finally lost my excess "baby fat" at 63, when I had gastric bypass surgery, and lost 100 pounds. I'm having my first grandchild at the ripe young age of 66, and just feel that every day is another "first", another reason to bloom.
The late blooming flowers are showing off right now around my midwestern world, as mid-September near-frosts are dipping in and out. The flowers look even more beautiful in the clear autumn light, glorying in their day in the sun, even as they know that these sunny days are limited. It's that very limitation that gives extra loveliness to their brave flamboyance.
I will bloom as late as I can, and celebrate the joy of so many "firsts" that will illuminate my lifetime--no matter what it's length.
