My sister is forever 38. These 9 years have been hard living without her.

My hair has been wanting to turn gray for a while but I was not ready for it. Who is? Last December, my hairstylist proposed we start the graying process instead of allowing it to happen randomly. If I don’t like it, I can go back to dying it back to red.

My hair started to become dry instead of its normal softness. Again that was my hair preparing to turn gray. I had to prepare the hair for the process. That took some time. It was not an easy process. Instead of conditioning my hair, I need to do hair masks. Not what I had done before. Aging takes away your normal.

The weekend before my 50th birthday, we started the process. Yesterday, my hair became gray but in a way I could control. There is so much you can’t control when you get older. I’m glad to have one thing I could.

I have the privilege of getting older. My sister did not. She never knew her 40’s when you truly learn who you are. She won’t turn 50 in two years. Her hair never started to turn gray. She never experienced perimenopause, maybe that is a good thing.

As Rob Thomas says, “I’m not afraid of getting older. I’m one less day from dying young.”

Embrace your gray.