Curtains Open For Act Three

By Carol Woolum Roberts

It is official.

I am sixty-years-old.

I started a little early by having my annual birthday coffee with my friend Nikki on Wednesday, June 28^th.

On July 1, I went and got some caffeine and had some quiet time coloring and reading scriptures and writing in a quiet park to begin my day.

Then I went to my friend Kellee’s house where we got in the car and headed to Wallace to pick up our friend April.  We enjoyed lunch in Wallace then coffee at April’s Pink House.

Later in the day, my family threw me a Sunflower-themed birthday party, as friends and family gathered for a wonderful afternoon. 

A special dinner was prepared for me on my actual birthday, July 3^rd.  In the evening Paul, my daughter Zoe, her boyfriend Jason and myself did a Moonlight Ride on the Route of the Hiawatha, a 15 mile bike trail.  It was a full moon, and we rode the entire trail in the dark. What a fun and unique way to end the first day of my sixties.

The whole week so far has been a special way to begin the third act.

Third act?  What is that?

Recently I watched a show on television where Jane Fonda talked about turning 60 and starting her third act. She shared about dividing her life into three acts of 30 years each, because she said every thirty years she tended to change.

“At the beginning of my third act, I realized—holy sh*t—I don’t know who I am.  I was 60 and thought, I have maybe 30 more years.  Third acts are important and can pull the rest together.  So, I went about studying myself, which meant studying my parents and grandparents.  Those are the people who determine who you are—who you then spend the rest of your life healing from.  One of the things I hope people come away feeling is a need to examine their lives.”

I feel a bit of a challenge by this statement Jane Fonda makes. As I look back on my Second Act, it was full of trying things, experiencing new things, saying yes too often, stretching myself creatively in many things, and exploring and discovering and changing and, also, regretting.

As I look ahead, it is time to fine tune.  I need to ask myself these questions:

• Who am I, really?
• What are my priorities?
• Take a closer look at my parents and grandparents and see how they influenced me as a person. Is there healing that needs to happen?
• What can I do in Act Three that pulls the first two acts together?
• As this third act of my life story unfolds, how do I share it with others?
• How can I bring the love, peace, joy and hope I experience and know to others?

What an exciting time of life.  I have shared with people that I am embracing my sixth decade. I can’t wait to see what happens in the Third Act.

If you look at the third act structure, Act One is the setup, Act Two is the Confrontation, and Act Three is the Resolution.  Where everything from Act One and Two come together.

The curtains are opening.

There is a sense of anticipation.

Act Three begins.

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 What do you find special about the time of life you are in right now?

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