In a recent post on her blog, Poppy Z. Brite talks about her impending birthday:

Today is my last day of being 37, and I'd just like to put in a word for the fabulousness of getting older. No, most of us old fogies aren't quite as firm or as cute as we used to be, and we have a lot more aches and pains, but the experience of becoming more confident in your ability to do the things you do well, being less concerned about your limitations, being more certain of your priorities in life, and giving less and less of a damn what anyone else thinks of you, expects of you, or wants from you is totally, totally worth it.

Preach on sister! I'm a few months behind her in reaching the same birthday and I've arrived at the same conclusions. I wish I was as thin as when I was 23 and had the physical plant and stamina of back then. Other than that, everything about being me is better today than it was when I was young. I know more, I care more about the right things and less about the bullshit things, I think my priorities are better and so forth. I feel much better prepared for the next 50 years today than I was for the next 5 years at age 20. If I just had a miracle drug that would make my joints quit creaking and forestalled arthritis forever, I'd be set. The corporal body declines, but the spirit within ascends.