Glass Ceiling Shattered

The 140th running of the Kentucky Derby is now over and done with California Chrome eyeing the Triple Crown with a heck of chance at it. I'm a big fan of California Chrome's story, watched him win Santa Anita, and was screaming his name to "run!" along with thousands of other fans that day.

In with all the cool facts about this horse, is his record breaking trainer. At age 77, Art Sherman became the oldest trainer to ever win the Derby.

Seventy-seven years old.

Take a second and let that sink in.

Now, let's do some math.

They say it takes 21 days to establish a new habit, this may or may not be true as some researchers are proving it could be less, but let's just say for argument sake it is fact.

I'm turning 35 years old next month.

With the window that Art Sherman's success illuminates, theoretically, I have another 42 years to learn to ride well enough to take on anything. ANYTHING. 730 new habits could be formed and perfected. The glass ceiling to dreams of what can be is lifted beyond sight. Can't get my leg perfect over fences? Start now. Work at it. Change it. Can't get my hands quiet? Try. Practice. Sweat. It'll be there. "But I'm not a teenager who has all this future ahead of me", total BS. Adults only stop because they are afraid to fail and believe that "I used to..." has more value than "I've started back, but I'm not as good as I once was". Then embarrassment begins to claim more dreams than failure ever could.

I'm at an age where I'm not old, or exactly young, it feels like an "I'm established as who I am" age. Vicarious life begins through my kids. But maybe we've all been blinded by the stop signs of what we can't do any more or believe we are too old to start at the beginning of anything new.

Life is out there. So much of it! Anything can happen. Any day can change you (I'm betting there are days my husband regrets the afternoon he mentioned knowing some horses I could go start riding again). The time passes anyway, run at the mountain and see if there's an even bigger one behind it! Who cares if you can or if you can't, just leg-up and go. Life doesn't stop until you do.

My parents both died way too young, leaving me with a habit to squeeze every drop out of every day. Rolex 2056 here I come.