The Candy Dish, Connecting & Cousins Over the Age of 50

As a child I was always attracted to vibrant colors, glitzy jewelry and anything that seemed fancy. In fact, as an adult this attraction continues. What can I say? Some people are ruled by their emotions and I, perhaps, am ruled by my senses. I recently had a flashback about the early days when I lusted after all things brightly colored and beautifully designed. I was on the phone with my cousin Doug recently and I had a flashback to his grandparents' candy dish that always delighted me. I mean the candy dish was full of brightly colored sour balls. The colors were beautiful and they made me salivate even before putting them in my mouth. Doug and I are both over the age of 50 now so I guess I felt that there would be no harm in confessing. You see Doug has this way of making you want to confess. I am not exactly sure what his strategy is but I'm working on figuring it out it. He thinks that he knows the strategy but I am not so sure. You see the psychologist in me is always looking for magic formulas.
Let's get back to the confession. So, somewhat reluctantly I asked cousin Doug if he remembered the candy dish. He did. He laughed. Good sign. He wasn't likely to get mad at what I was about to tell him. I confessed that I always made it a point to help myself to a hearty helping of his grandparents' goodies. He laughed a little more and said that I was forgiven. So, all these years that I spent holding on to this guilt were perhaps unnecessary? Hmm. So what else do 2 cousins in their 50's confess to each other? Especially cousins who have been out of touch and are trying to build a sweet relationship with staying power? Well, in your fifties there are several confessions that one is yearning to make including: confessions about feelings, disappointments and joys. We spoke about our childhoods, our marriages and our careers. We opened up about things that I never thought that I'd say out loud. Then I got the incredible opportunity to talk to Doug's wife of 40 years. Yep. You heard that correctly-40 years.
So, here is how this candy dish relates to being over 50. When one is over 50 you are more likely to take risks and in my case the risk was opening up and sharing memories with a relative who I barely know but who I would like to get to know and am lucky enough to be getting to know. You see I want more family and at this age I am brave enough to reach out and try to make those connections. It is unlikely that I would have done this 20 years ago. You see we are not so young anymore. We are not so old either. It is the perfect time to open up, reach out and re-connect.