Meet Poet Terri Kirby Erickson
We are very pleased to introduce you to a member of our over 50 community - Terri Kirby Erickson! She has published two books of poetry that you should know about, and she is also an inspiration to all of us who are starting our second half a century. Life is not over after 50, but just beginning a new and hopeful phase!
You can learn more about Poet Terri Kirby Erickson on her website. But first, read what she has to say to us! She writes about being happy with the riches we do have, and not letting small imperfections make us unhappy.
Loving My Life after Fifty
At my fortieth birthday party, some friends of mine gave me a box of
tissues, supposedly so I’d be able to mop my tears of woe at becoming
“middle-aged.” If there were any tears at all, they were tears of joy
that so many good friends took time out of their busy schedules to help me
celebrate my birthday.
As to my fiftieth birthday party, I had to cancel it because of a
chest cold I caught on a plane trip back from Sweden. But at least I had
great memories of strolling through the magnificent city of Stockholm to
keep me company, as well as my husband, nurse extraordinaire—who kept me
supplied with chicken soup and you guessed it, tissues!
I don’t plan on carrying around a box of tissues on my 52nd
birthday in May, but the best laid plans, etc. However, I will say that the
past few years have been among the happiest of my life.
Since I turned 50, I feel like I’m becoming more and more each day,
the person I was meant to be. After many years of trying to be the best
wife, mother, daughter and friend humanly possible—I am finally able to
see that I don’t actually have to be the “best” at everything. All I
have to do is be myself and that is plenty good enough.
Also, my career as a published poet has just taken off. I started
writing seriously when I was 45, and now I’ve had two-full-length
collections published, Thread Count and Telling Tales of Dusk, had over 70
poems published in literary journals, anthologies and other publications,
including The Christian Science Monitor, JAMA, Verse Daily and many others,
and have won some awards and been nominated for others, including a Pushcart
Prize and a Best of the Net Award.
Telling Tales of Dusk actually made it to #8 in Amazon poetry books
sales in the country back in February!
And on top of all that good news, I’m having the time of my life
traveling around, doing poetry readings and meeting all sorts of wonderful
folks.
So, I’d have to say turning fifty was a huge blessing for me in so
many ways that I don’t have time to count them all. I have achieved a
lifelong dream of being a published poet, and I’ve let go of all the
weighty expectations I had in my youth, of being “perfect.” I may not
be perfect, but at 51 and counting, I’m perfectly happy to say so!
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