Game On!

Acrylic on wood panel.

27x40"

Maybe aging isn’t really about the number. Maybe it’s about the story we tell ourselves about the number.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot as I approach 60.

There is a little voice inside all of us that says I’ve got this.

And there’s always another one that says I’m too old for that. I can’t. What if I fail? Maybe I should be more sensible.

Which voice do we choose to listen to?

I love pinball, especially the old retro machines. This summer I painted The Game of Life on a 1974 Williams pinball playing field. The painting is the perfect metaphor for living life: the unpredictable journey of the ball. You don’t control every bounce, but you enjoy the excitement of the play, even when you lose.

My new painting Game On! grew out of that idea.

I’m surrounded by so many strong, bold, playful and curious women in their 60s and 70s. Women who are hiking, making art, travelling, reinventing themselves, wearing whatever the hell they want and refusing to become smaller just because the number gets bigger.

I’m beginning to understand that aging with grace doesn’t have to mean becoming more cautious, conventional or invisible.

Maybe it means becoming more fully yourself.

As I approach my next chapter, I’m ready to lean into that.

I’m ready to embrace aging—not as an ending, but as another level.

Because inside, I’m still that young girl playing pinball in an arcade, waiting to see what happens when I pull the plunger.