I turned 50 last week and although I’ve had an entire week to get used to the idea, I’m still surprised to see the words “I” and “50” in the same sentence. I like to think that I’m not bothered by ageing, but this birthday has set me back on my heels: how did I get to be halfway to a hundred? I feel like the plague victim in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, who exclaims, as he is carted off to the burial grounds: “I’m not dead yet! I think I’ll go for a walk this afternoon.” At 50, I’m not dead yet – 50 is the new 30, so they say – although there are mornings when my lower back feels closer to 80 than to 50.
Turning 50, if you believe the popular media, often entails a whole series of midlife (er, late midlife?) crises and insights: we look at our lives and wonder “is this it?” Somehow, asking that question at 50 packs more of a wallop than asking it at 30: at 30, if you don’t like the answer to the question, there is more time to effect change. At 50? There’s still time but the clock ticks ever louder. You’re aware that the boulder you’ve shoved to the top of the hill is balanced only momentarily; it will soon begin its slow rumble down the other side.
So yes, this past week, the question “is this it?” has come to the fore, with occasional digressions into mundane, but still pressing issues like what I should cook for dinner, why do all the clothes need washing at once, and who has to get to which football practice and when?
I didn’t expect the universe to send me a lovely typed note with answers to my questions (this isn’t it; everyone likes spaghetti; wear dirty socks; younger son Sunday at 6pm); in fact, at my ripe age, I am comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. You will understand why I was surprised, then, when six days into my sixth decade, the universe sent me a metaphor, in the form of a shell-encrusted hawksbill turtle.
Early in the morning on Saadiyat Beach, a friend and I saw a turtle, one flipper visible above the water as if it were waving to us. We convinced the lifeguard that something was amiss (turtles don’t usually wave hello) and he waded out to bring the turtle to shore. The turtle’s body was crusted over with barnacles and shells, including one about the size of a child’s fist. The shells were effectively capsizing the turtle as it swam; the lifeguard said that if the barnacles weren’t removed, the turtle would eventually drown from the extra weight. The intrepid turtle-saver began gently peeling off the barnacles and as the chunks fell away, bits of turtle-shell began to shine through, in the same way that new skin gleams from underneath a scab.
Hawksbills, as most of us who live here know, are a critically endangered species; there are only a few thousand nesting females left in the world. Saadiyat is meant to be a protected environment for the turtles, but I’d never seen one here before: turtles like solitude and quiet, which puts them at odds with the constant beachfront construction. Every few minutes, the lifeguard dipped the turtle into the water and each time, the turtle started to swim, more easily now, because the worst of the barnacle crust had been removed.
Isn’t that what happens to us as we swim through our lives? If we don’t pay attention, we become weighed down by habits, ideas and relationships that don’t serve us, and may even threaten to capsize us. I’m not sure who or what plays the role of lifeguard in this metaphor I’m constructing – perhaps each of us finds our own – but the message seemed clear: by 50 (which is about the length of a hawksbill’s lifespan), it’s time to peel away old growth or risk foundering.
The lifeguard pulled off the worst of the turtle’s barnacles but said he couldn’t simply let the turtle return to the water. Barnacle growth signifies that the turtle is ill and needs to be seen by a veterinarian before it can be released into the wild, so sick turtles found on Saadiyat are taken to the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project at the Burj Al Arab. Yes: a turtle spa.
And that means, of course, that if I follow this turtle metaphor to its conclusion, the universe thinks I should have a spa day as well, to ensure that I swim barnacle free for many decades to come.
Deborah Lindsay Williams is a professor of literature at NYU Abu Dhabi
mannahattamamma.com
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
IPL 2018 FINAL
Sunrisers Hyderabad 178-6 (20 ovs)
Chennai Super Kings 181-2 (18.3 ovs)
Chennai win by eight wickets
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World Cricket League Division 2
In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.
UAE fixtures
Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
Company%20Profile
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
The%20Iron%20Claw
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The biog
Fatima Al Darmaki is an Emirati widow with three children
She has received 46 certificates of appreciation and excellence throughout her career
She won the 'ideal mother' category at the Minister of Interior Awards for Excellence
Her favourite food is Harees, a slow-cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled wheat berries mixed with chicken