When asked by family, friends, and clients how would they describe Michelle, they had this to say:
"Very caring. She truly looks out for others and is concerned about their well-being."
"Hard working, a go getter! She overcomes obstacles that others would have just walked away from. She's always looking for solutions to problems and solving them."
"She looks incredible for her age!" I hope I age like her!"
"She's extremely creative, a talented singer and songwriter, a genuinely nice person and always thinking of ways to elevate."
We received so many well wishes for her and so many amazing and positive comments, we couldn't list them all.
She is a woman who is the epitome of Grace and Steel! Grace carried her. And steel definitely forged her. She understands loss, grief, betrayal and people who have misunderstood and judged her simply for who she is.
She remains unapologetically true to herself and her faith in Jesus Christ.
She cannot and will not allow herself to be labeled, categorized or neatly set into someone's rigid standards of what a woman should be.
She defies AGE! Where most people would see another birthday as getting older, she seems to be aging backwards.
And believes that people should stop judging others based on age. She's so young at heart and so full of energy, vitality and life that no one would dare to box her into an age group simply based on a number.
In her own words she said, "I think sometimes people confuse age with vitality. Some people feel vibrant and engaged later in life, while others feel old very young. That's why I don't reduce compatibility to numbers alone."
"Age alone doesn't determine someone's maturity, value, compatibility or how meaningful a relationship can be. We see women like Cher and Madonna defying age and dating men decades younger than themselves while being completely unapologetic about it!"
"Men do it all the time and they are admired and envied for it. If a woman does it, sometimes the opposite can be true. But one thing is for sure, you have younger people who don't age well and older people who age incredibly well."
So let people be and if they happen to look amazing for their age and no one would look at them sideways saying why is she dating someone that could be her son's age (if she had one) when they can't tell the difference, or look at him and say, "why is he dating someone who LOOKS old enough to be his mother, when she doesn't, who cares!
Having worked in Medicare for years with clients in their twenties to well into their eighties and beyond, she has a different perspective on age when she has seen clients in their twenties and thirties pass away from chronic diseases and people blessed to be alive in their eighties, thriving, healthy and of sound mind.
In closing, she said, "I've never related strongly to ideas about what a woman is supposed to be at a certain age anyway. And don't conform to what society deems appropriate when so much of the abnormal (what would be considered a sin in the bible), has now become normal I've always had a younger spirit and a more unconventional outlook on life."
"And, I think people would be a lot happier if they stopped judging others and truly started living!"