{"id":332598,"date":"2026-07-08T02:04:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T02:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/332598\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T02:04:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T02:04:18","slug":"birthdays-are-not-for-the-faint-of-heart-but-theyre-better-in-oz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/332598\/","title":{"rendered":"Birthdays are not for the faint of heart \u2013 but they\u2019re better in Oz"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

Toby Belding and Mitch Belding at The Firestone. -STEPHANIE DAVIS \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n

When I celebrated my birthday last week, I looked up several quotes on aging. Some were a little bleak:\n<\/p>\n

A guy named Jean Paul said this, \u201cWhat makes old age so sad is not that our joys but our hopes cease.\u201d God bless you, Mr. Paul \u2013 but that\u2019s the most depressing thing I\u2019ve ever heard in all my (many) years.\n<\/p>\n

I\u2019m actually filled to the brimming with hope. I have such hope for our country, for my sweet family and dear friends \u2013 and for myself \u2013 there\u2019s so much to be hopeful and excited about!\n<\/p>\n

With apologies to Jean Paul, I\u2019ve chosen to put his quote aside and instead focus on something that the beautiful 91-year old Sophia Loren once said, \u201cThere is a fountain of youth: It is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Another way to look at these yearly birthdays is something that Meryl Streep once said (probably while accepting her 47th Oscar Award), \u201cGrowing old is not for the faint of heart.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

On the right side of the dirt<\/p>\n

No one knows more about aging than actresses trying to make a living, which is why I take to heart what these wise ladies have said. No, it\u2019s not easy \u2013 watching our faces and bodies change without our permission can be jarring. I look back and see myself in the 90s prancing around downtown Fort Myers in ridiculous heels, tiny skirts, and strappy tops with the kind of confidence that I was all that and a bag of chips. But, as I write this, I just got home from my downtown birthday gathering at the legendary Brick Bar (now The Firestone), where 30 years ago the music-loving downtown crowd was always dancing up a storm every weekend to fabulous live music. And as I greeted friends, enjoyed a beautiful evening where I was home before dark, it occurred to me that while I wasn\u2019t dressed in a $9.99 mini-skirt from the Juniors department at Ross for Less, I\u2019ve never been happier and more comfortable in my life.\n<\/p>\n

Defeating age<\/p>\n

There I was in an environment where I practically grew up in with so many dear friends (many of whom I grew up with). We don\u2019t rage like we used to, but we laughed, we shared memories, we took lots of pictures \u2013 and we spoke of creativity and love and aging \u2013 as I heard the wise words of Sophia Loren and Meryl Streep echoing in my head. I\u2019ll remember them in a year at my next birthday, because after all, aging is not for the faint of heart.\n<\/p>\n

Off to see the wizard
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Broadway Palms\u2019 The Wizard of Oz follows a tale of characters walking down a path of discover and a long yellow brick road filled with dangers and surprises. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n

When it comes to hearts, the Tin Man got one! And the Lion earned some courage \u2013 and even the Scarecrow got a brain. I was so happy to attend the opening night at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre for The Wizard of Oz. What a perfectly wonderful night filled with magic, music, and marvelousness. You MUST see this thoroughly delightful production directed by the amazing Victor Legarreta \u2013 it\u2019s so good! Plus, I got to run into a whole yellow brick road filled with friends. Loved seeing Melissa Mitchell and Gail Markham, Cindy and J Gould, Marin Asher with her adorable daughter Amara, Lauren Hope of Gulf Coast News, along with reporter Dave Elias and Gina Birch of Sunny 106. There was also Broadway Palm matriarch Debbie Prather and her daughter-in-law, Maureen Prather, plus Tom Hall of WGCU with his bride Connie. Loved seeing Todd and Wendy Tooley, as well as Jen McWhinnie, Kathy and Paul Bernier, and bunches more! The music, the story, the dancing, and the Broadway Palm\u2019s famous coconut macaroons made for the most delightful evening!\n<\/p>\n

Stephanie Davis is a recovering girl-about-town formerly known as the Downtown Diva. A nearly native Southwest Floridian, when she\u2019s not photographing events for Florida Weekly, she\u2019s perfectly content to stay at home binging Netflix with her husband and three cats, Tennessee, Lilibet, Jack, and Baby.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toby Belding and Mitch Belding at The Firestone. -STEPHANIE DAVIS \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY When I celebrated my birthday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-332598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}