I’ve come to believe that life really does begin at forty.

It feels like only yesterday that I reached this age, and I still remember what a friend’s mother said to me at my birthday party: “Congratulations! You’ll see, from here on, it gets easier. You begin to understand yourself.”

At the time, it was hard to imagine. But since then, it’s been a series of transformations only, mostly toward greater wisdom and a sense of peace.