Today I did it. I went to Control Panel and clicked "Accessibility Options."  Some of you will know exactly what that means. For the uninitiated (or Mac users) "Accessibility Options" is what you click if you want to change your font settings; in other words, it's what you click to make the default font size larger because you're getting old and losing near-sightedness (as if being far-sighted and having glasses since 4th grade wasn't enough!). Ouch! But don't get me wrong. I'm grateful to have reached this age.  After all, as I am want to tell my "older" friends: every birthday is a gift. I've been in denial about my eyesight for almost a year now. Oh sure, I bought 'readers' a while back.  They're right where they've been since the day I bought them: in the drawer of my bedside table.  And I didn't buy just any old readers, but funky, multicolored, "I will look artsy and cool wearing these" readers.  Just as artsy and cool as every other suburban middle aged woman I know.  I can get by, for now.  Of course I can, now that I've changed my "Accessibility Options." Read a book?  Doesn't matter, I have no time, I'm a working mother.  When face to face with a magazine, any magazine, I can't resist.  (I've been known to read American Demographic or Popular Mechanics in the waiting room at the doctor's office.)  So, I lift my glasses and read REAL CLOSE;  I can read just fine then. Of course, I look like a blind duck, but it works. They say that the years fly by faster the older you get.  For me, it seems, the years fly by faster the busier I get.  Working mothers can relate.  Even if you take the time to find balance, quality time with the spouse and kids, and an annual family vacation, the more we do, the faster time goes by.  This is also true for naps.  When I do have time for a nap, the next thing I know three hours have gone by, and the entire Sunday afternoon.  Not complaining.Just as childhood and careers need nurturing at each stage and phase, so too aging.  Each year is a milestone; each experience, a life lesson.  Career gives way to retirement; motherhood gives way to grandparenthood.  As someone once said, "the only constant is change" and "nothing is final except death and taxes."  In between, what have we got?  A day, a year.  An opportunity to make an impact on others, to find joy and meaning; a time to give of ourselves to others.That's all there is, folks.  It's getting late.  I think I'll put on my readers and settle in with and a magazine - or two.  I'll doze off before midnight and look forward to this Sunday's nap.  Sleep is all the more precious and easier to come by these days.  Caregiving becomes caretaking - of ourselves.  It's more important now as years fly by faster than ever before.