The Five Star Weekend…

Well, I took a day off from adulting and instead binge-watched a show I keep seeing ads for: The Five-Star Weekend.

And by binge-watched, I mean I finished the entire season in one day.

It was incredible.

The story revolves around friendship, parenting, relationships, love, betrayal, grief, identity, and so much more. I don’t want to say too much and give anything away, but I will say this: It is definitely a great watch for women my age.

There are so many themes woven throughout the episodes, but the one that resonated with me most was the idea of stepping back and allowing yourself to examine who you truly are at this age.

Or at any age, really.

But especially at this age.

The characters all have so many things pulling at them - spouses, children, careers, expectations. Somewhere along the way, they’ve learned to live almost robotically, doing what needs to be done, doing what’s expected of them, and sometimes doing what makes their lives look the best from the outside.

But eventually, they’re forced to ask themselves a harder question:

Have I actually been living for myself? And have I allowed myself to become the person I’ve grown into?

Because we do grow. We change. We develop.

And sometimes I think we forget that the people we love are doing the same thing.

At one point, one of the husbands says that relationships shouldn’t be so hard that you constantly have to work to make them work. And that hit me, because marriage is work. Always. You grow up. You change. You aren’t the same people you were 20 years ago - and neither is the person beside you.

That realization can crumble you.

Or maybe it can open your eyes.

Maybe the goal isn’t to stay exactly who we were when we were younger. Maybe it’s to keep getting to know the people we are becoming - including ourselves.

I think there comes a point in life when you look around at everything you’ve built, everything you’ve done, and everyone you’ve taken care of - and you finally wonder: Who am I now?

Not who was I at 25.

Not who does everyone need me to be.

Not who looks the best from the outside.

But who am I now?

Maybe that’s one of the gifts of getting older. We finally start realizing that we’re allowed to ask.

Anyway, watch the show. It’s fantastic.

And if none of that convinces you, Timothy Olyphant is in it - and that man only gets better looking with gray hair.

So there’s that.