Milestones - embracing the way forward

This year seems to have gone by in flash and yet, it feels light years away from where I stood last June. June of 2025 ended seventeen years of my public-school service as a special needs para professional. It also launched me into retirement, something I only dreamed of and now (to my surprise) was happening. But the end of June 2025 marked another milestone, my seventieth birthday: ushering me into a whole new decade. Celebrating at a small concert venue, I found myself singing along with fellow boomers while Graham Nash sang “Our House” as if it was still the 1970’s; a unified vibrational experience. It was awesome! The room was filled with gratitude, nostalgia and the bittersweet reality that nothing lasts forever. Carpe diem seems to have quietly become my generation’s mantra. Time is short. We were standing on the threshold of a whole new beginning to find ourselves, again. A reflection moment on what we’ve evolved into, what I’ve evolved into. It was time to let go of my old self and take a leap of faith into the unknown. Perhaps finally finding my way to discover who I really am.

Now it’s June 2026. My first full year of being seventy will come to a close and my astrological New Year is about to begin. This solar return happens to fall on my Jupiter return — roughly a twelve‑year cycle when the planet Jupiter returns to the exact sign and degree it occupied at birth. Jupiter’s return marks a major turning point, carrying energies of growth, good luck and expansion. It’s perfect timing.

So, I am jumping in with both feet, eyes wide open, staying curious to learn, experience and wander through new opportunities with fresh eyes. I carry the lessons learned and wisdom of the journey behind me, but no longer defines me; embracing the way forward repeating the mantra that has become both a reminder and an invitation: Carpe Diem.