Rethinking the Mid-Life Crisis

I wouldn’t say that I am a terribly competitive person but I’m getting a head start on my mid-life crisis. I’ll be thirty-nine in June but the women in my family age very gracefully so God willing, I’ll be right up there with the octogenarians retired in my home on Lake Travis (also as yet an unanswered prayer).

I’d like to propose a name change, though, for this period of self-analysis. Mid-life crisis brings to my mind a Tom Selleck—type of man with facial hair, (a new head of hair, in some cases), short shorts, a convertible red Ferrari, lots of disposable income, and no family entanglements. He smiles at pretty young women, works out a lot, and takes on a new beautiful trophy wife to begin a second family and meet whatever unmet needs he has that have driven him to these great lengths. Yes, this stereotype is incredibly unfair, sexist, and based on too many girls nights out at the movies so that is why I am suggesting a different name because this does not describe where I am or where I am going.

Right before my first child was born nearly ten years ago, my husband and I were both consultants in a new home with a baby project pending. We hired a fantastic decorator (we could then, as DINKS—dual income, no kids—we could afford such extravagance) to come in and redesign our home. She worked with our existing furniture but brought in too many accessories to count (actually, the bill was itemized, so I was able to count, but chose not to—sticker shock) to redesign every room in our 3000 square foot home. We went off to work and came home to a brand new showplace. It was incredible—it was a magical makeover and worth every penny.

Interior designers, artists, musicians have such a great gift. And it is a gift—I could no more pick a motif of pleasing paint colors and fabric than I could sculpt a pot or strum a guitar. What I wanted, what I got when I hired Mary-Lynn to remake and rediscover the assets my home largely already held, was a fresh pair of eyes, gifted in the art of putting the pieces to make a pleasing home that made the most of the basic elements we had.