ALL STARTS WITH EDUCATION: I was young once. To all my female friends from 40 years and up: Most of us are going through the next phase of our lives. We’re at that age where we see wrinkles, grey hair, and extra pounds.

We see the cute 25-year-olds and reminisce. But we were also 25, just as they will one day be our age. We aren’t the ‘girls in their summer clothes’ anymore. What they bring to the table with their youth and zest, we bring our wisdom and experience.

We have raised families, run households, paid the bills, dealt with diseases, sadness, and everything else life has assigned us. Some of us have lost those that were nearest and dearest to us.

We are survivors. We are warriors in the quiet. We are women, like a classic car or a fine wine. Even if our bodies aren’t what they once were, they carry our souls, our courage, and our strength.

We shall all enter this chapter of our lives with humility, grace, and pride over everything we have been through, and we should never feel bad about getting older. It’s a privilege that is denied to so many.