Continued from here, where I was about to point out how and why having kids as an older parent works for me ...

There are differences between parenting in my twenties and doing it now that I'm in my mid-fifties. Many of these have to do with maturity, security, life on a tropical island, a sense of humor and so on, but I'm too wrung to go into depth or detail, so I'm sticking with just big differences ...

Big difference #1: Mark.

At 25, I was a single parent, so everything from child care to bills was on me, and no one was going to show up at my bedside in the morning with a nice cup of tea and concern about my mood, nose and throat. My ankles were the only ones available for grabbing in those days, so kids wanting to get from point A to point B had only me to attach themselves to, and it was just my set of hands that would dig them out from under their crusting slime. There was no one to spell me on night duty, and just little young me to feed, medicate, bathe, transport, comfort and cajole two other small, but totally miserable, humans.

Big difference #2: Mark

Since I have work to do even on Saturday and Sunday, and because he so enjoys his time with the kids, weekends are Dad's. Mark gets up early with the kids, leaving me to lounge in our huge bed, take up all the space I want, collect thoughts, and heal. They go for walks to gather rabbit and tortoise food, pick flowers for me and leave the house in total peace and quiet for a good twenty minutes. This is a gift I would have given a lot for thirty years ago.

Big difference #3: Mark

One of my Christmas presents from my husband was a gift certificate for an afternoon's spa treatment at the Banyan Tree Resort. I'm using it today.

I'm leaving in a couple of hours for a kaffir lime leaf, wheat germ and honey body scrub, followed by an hour of lomi-lomi massage. Ahhhhhhh.

Place me in these photos in a little while, as I'll be RIGHT THERE ... in that chair ... on that massage table ... oooooh! I can hardly wait ....

I'm rejuvenated just thinking about it, and when I slide out of there, I'll be one lithe, clean, relaxed woman with tight pores ready to take on the world ... after a nice nap.

So much for older parenting taking a back seat to being a youngster with young'uns. It may not be for everyone, but it sure as heck is for me!