About The Lifestyle

 

When my dad’s mom officially became a grandmother via me being born, she was only 44 years old.  When it happened to my mom when my first nephew, Pancho, was born, she was only 51, the same age I am right now as of this entry.   I know, they both married young.  But still, when I think about the idea of being a grandmother at 51, it seems so unimaginable, much more so if it happened to me when I was 44.  Unbelievable, considering I don’t feel  I should be a grandmother just yet.  My husband, who’s only a year older than I, has a daughter who’s 29 years old (as of this writing).  So the thought of us being grandparents is not a far-fetched thought anymore.  But still…

But gone are the days when the way you feel is dictated by the numerical milestone you’ve reached.  Not just because you’re 50, you should feel older than someone who’s 35.  Not just because you’re in your 60s doesn’t mean you can’t be as active, or more active than someone who’s 45.  And vice-versa.  At this day and age of modern medicine, healthier food, globalized and readily accessible information and advanced technology, there is no more reason to feel your age.  It’s all a mindset now.

My paternal grandmother. My mamang. Here she is at 45 years old, with a one-year-old granddaughter (me!).

Honestly, I don’t feel old.  I know my body wasn’t what it used to be and I feel some pains here and there and my husband and I have maintenance medications we need to take.   But I still don’t consider myself out of the game.  I know there is so much more I can offer life and I know there’s a lot more I can get out of it.

And this is why this blog exists.  I feel that right now I am entering a new phase in my life.  I used to blog as Ate Sienna at atesienna.pansitan.net and I’ve given many people a glimpse of who I was in my early 30s till my 40s.  And my blog still exists here.  But now, this is the current me. I am still a gay hag, my humor is still wise-cracked, altho a bit more subdued, but this is my current lifestyle.   I want to show the world the modified and more grown-up me.

My beautiful mom at 18, holding me, while my maternal grandmother (the lady beside my mom), Mama checking me out.

Aside from food trips and cakes and life in general, I plan to feature clothes that won’t make a fellow mid-lifer feel like they have to look like a grandmother from olden times.  I want to show them how to dress up without breaking their pocketbooks and how to put on make-up that won’t make them look awkward.  Now this is going to be a challenge for me, too.  Taking good pictures is always a hit and miss with me.  Just check my photos on Facebook and you’ll see that I don’t always picture well.  It’s mainly because a.) I have this habit of making funny faces (even when I don’t mean to) or b.) I never cared for what I looked like when I hop in the car and c.) and most of the times, I just didn’t care much for pictures.  And this is why, I’ve never been too comfortable with a camera pointing at me.  Thru the years, with the dawn of Facebook and camera phones, there were rules that I should’ve given myself – never get caught looking bad or unaware and never go out of the house looking unkempt.  (Unfortunately, regrets always come at the end.)

So this time, I have to remind myself, until it becomes a habit, that I should always look my best.  Noone deserves to see me unprepared as I leave the house.  And permanent pictures of me should always look presentable, for keepsake and for future generations to marvel at (rolls my eyes and pushes tongue in cheeks).  And with this mantra, I will take you all to a journey of learning to present myself to everyone with poise and dignity fitting of a woman who has marked her half-time life on earth.  And just maybe you can pick up a thing or two, and with that my blog will have served its purpose.

So I hope you follow me on my modified life journey and you enjoy the path of The Gigi Lifestyle.