50+'Fabulous' Definition

Ladies, just what is our definition of being 50+Fabulous?

As a young woman in my twenties, I was fast friends with a woman who had just turned fifty. She told me honestly, there was no way she could enlighten me as to the empowerment that she felt, on attaining 50 years of life lived. At the time, at my tender age, I failed to fully grasp her meaning.

When I reached the age of 50, I recalled my friend's words, while in conversation with my youngest daughter, a young woman in her twenties. My daughter carried in her, and expressed, the feeling that I must, of course, mourn the passing of youth, that I certainly felt sadness at the diminishing of what she referred to as 'my beauty'. How, she wished to know, could I bear it?

I was, to say the least, shocked, that my daughter held so shallow a sentiment, as to the meaning of the advancement of a life being lived. Youth? Looks? I rarely thought of either, as my adventure through life progressed. It is a fact that on occasions when I was asked my age, I actually had to pause a moment, and recall just how many years I had then been around. Age, as a determining factor in my life, held no meaning for me. It's yet the same for me now, at the age of 56.

50+'Fabulous' is very much how I feel, physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. It is with humble gratitude, to whatever powers that be, that I have 'grown' through life, instead of merely 'going' through life. I am, most certainly, so much more than I was, as a total human being, now, than what I was years ago.
It is in the accumulation of wisdom, gleaned from life experiences, knowledge and education pursued, and owned, interests followed or newly developed, the ability to love, and the heart-filling realization of being loved, the courageous facing of trials and tribulations life delivers, while never allowing one's heart to grow bitter and stale to the joys of life, that defines 50+'Fabulous'.

---Jeannine Schenewerk

Copyright © 2007 Jeannine Schenewerk

Open Letter to eons.com

(Written from within the eons.com community,
and sent to their Feedback Department)

Imagine my delight, when I first learned of eons.com! A 'Neighborhood' for the over 50 crowd, hyped as our generation's answer to MySpace.com.

Imagine my disappointment, to find eons is but one more of the sites springing-up all over the internet, targeting the maturing majority. Plenty of ads, little games, ho-hum Trivia, and cookie-cutter articles...did I mention the ads?

I registered, I logged-in, and my 'Home' is nothing more than the standard form-fill-in profile, that I've seen used by every other site. Absolutely no freedom of imagination, or originality, to be found at our 'Homes'.

I move on, and find the usual Group Topics, some quite restrictive in that they demand nothing be posted off-topic. Let's face it, this can get boring, quickly, and from the looks of some of the Topics, boredom has led to no-show members, equaling no-posts.

Networking? Many people here would like a venue, such as a real Home page, for mentioning their services/merchandise, interesting hobbies, etcetera, in which their over 50 peers might have interest. Many here would love to be able to not only discuss music, videos, etcetera, but also have the site-ability to share these with the community. Not to mention, how much more interesting posts would be, if HTML and images could be used, within them. The internet is still a visual media, after all.

What we're left with, is more or less, a listing of Blogs, and same-old-same-old Group Topics, we've seen, and read, a million times. Maybe a million and then some...considering we've been around awhile.

Well, time for me to head on over to MySpace.com...a friend tells me there are some great videos up today.

---Jeannine Schenewerk

Copyright ©2007 Jeannine Schenewerk