Threshold

As a child, a threshold felt frightening.
A doorway could hold more than a room. It could hold judgment, uncertainty, the unfamiliar.
At my stepmother’s parents’ house, I would never enter first. I waited. Hovered. Slipped in behind someone else. My foot followed. It did not lead.

Life carried me through many spirals after that. Boardrooms. Hospitals. Airports. Decisions that quietly changed everything. The thresholds became less dramatic, but there was still a tightening in my chest. A small pause before entering.A question that asked, Will I belong here?

And now I stand at another threshold. It feels different.
There is still respect for what is unknown. But beneath it, something new has emerged. Anticipation.
This is not a doorway I am sneaking through. It is one I am choosing.

The Emerging Elder threshold is not about withdrawing from the world. It is about entering it differently.
With lived experience. With discernment. With a steadier center. This time, I do not wait for someone else to go first. I step forward. And I open the door.