Jodi Rose Crump

WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT BEING YOUR AGE?
I finally have the freedom to do what I want, go where I want, try what I want, sleep when I want to, and eat when and where I want to. All of my time is my own. I get to make all my choices about how I want to spend my days and my life now.

DO YOU LIKE BEING 40+?
Yes! 100% !!!
I wish I had the health of my younger days, but I love the wisdom and confidence I have now. Confidence has eluded me my entire life, but I am finally finding it, so life is getting better and better every year now. 

WHEN IN YOUR LIFE, SO FAR, HAVE YOU FELT MOST CONFIDENT, AND WHY?
I feel most confident after completing a major creative project. I feel most confident after an orchestra concert or an art gallery showing of my work. I also feel confident when I have just finished a book & have put it for sale on Amazon.
I put on a convention for an organization I belonged to many years ago. I’d never done that before or since. It was such a wonderful experience! As an introvert, I listened to the concerns and ideas from people and combined them into the best event possible. We had musical talent flown in, audiovisual presentations, breakout sessions, fabulous food, and all kinds of fantastic moments throughout the convention. People told me I couldn’t do it, that I didn’t have enough time to pull it off. And it exceeded everyone’s expectations, not only staying on budget but also ending with a small profit. That was one of my finest moments in life – accomplishing that seemingly impossible task. My dad was really proud of me for that, too.
I also felt confident when driving around the USA and Canada – going where I wanted, staying where I wanted, and eating where I wanted. My dogs and I love exploring this beautiful continent, and we have visited both the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean multiple times. We have camped and traveled together all over. It also makes me feel strong, knowing that it’s much harder to travel as a woman, alone, with my dogs, than it is to travel as a couple with their dogs.

WHAT BRINGS YOU THE MOST JOY AT THIS AGE?
I love spending time at the beach. I love sitting on a beach chair with my feet in the water. I love walking alongside the water with bare feet. I love being at the ocean. The sound is the most comforting, soothing, relaxing sound that I know.
I also love renting a place on the ocean – it brings me immense happiness to wake up, look out the window, and see the surf hit the sand or the rocks on the coast. I could sit at the ocean full-time, all the time, and want for nothing else for the rest of my life.

WHAT IS YOUR SUPERPOWER?
I have two – the first is that wherever I go on vacation, the weather clears up or is nicer there than usual. Each time I have gone to Vancouver, British Columbia, the constant rain clears up for the entire time I am there. Local people always comment that to me, too. “Oh, you’re here for the lovely weather! You’re so lucky!”
Or, it rains when I am in a restaurant, eating lunch, and it stops just moments before I’m ready to go outside again. It’s happened to me my whole life.
I went to Las Vegas a few years ago with my (grown) kids, and it had rained and flooded a whole week before we got there and stopped right as our plane touched down. The entire week we were there, it was unusually cool weather for the area.
My other superpower is my courage. I have an enormous amount of courage to try new things. I have moved and changed schools so many times – too many times to count. I have met so many extraordinary people along the way. I have the courage to stand by my convictions and stand up to bullies and others who believe they hold more power than anyone else.
Unfortunately, I’ve also developed another superpower – during my most recent trips, the fire alarm at the hotel went off. It continued to blare until the firefighters arrived and had to turn it off manually. I hope this superpower leaves me just as quickly as it appeared!

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT?
After college, I stopped playing violin for about 30 years. I picked it up again 2 years ago; I started taking private violin lessons to remind myself how fun it is. After a bit of time, I joined two orchestras and have performed in concerts with three different orchestras. My favorite orchestra promoted me to 2nd chair, 2nd violin in my 2nd season with them. I feel amazed and honored to have been promoted so quickly to such a visible spot in the orchestra.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST EXTRAVAGANCE?
I flew my boys and me to Hawai’i a few years ago. I couldn’t afford it, and it was worth every penny. We discovered that staying at a vRBO and eating grocery store food was the best food and living conditions we could have asked for. We loved the trip! I am so glad we got to do that. We also got to attend a lu’au and go on a whale watching trip. I want to do this trip again sometime and visit a different Hawaiian island!

WHAT IS YOUR MOST TREASURED POSSESSION?
My most treasured possession is my acoustic violin. It was made by a longtime neighbor and friend of my grandparents. We knew he was an amazing woodworker, but we never knew he had made violins until after he passed away in the 1980s. He only made seven violins, and only three worked. I got the 2nd-best violin. I have said for years, “It’s the only thing I would rescue in a fire.” (After people and animals are rescued!)
I finally got to do just that, too, at two of my recent hotel stays! The fire alarm went off, and I managed to grab my violin and leave the hotel with it.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING YOU HAVE CHECKED OFF YOUR BUCKET LIST?
I have visited all 50 of the United States of America. I have also driven to Nova Scotia, Canada, and all the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Those were major items on my bucket list. A lot of my family’s ancestry is from Nova Scotia. I only have three Canadian Provinces to go before I have seen all of them; then I will work on the US Territories and Canadian Territories as well.
Another huge bucket list item was two years ago, when I took my kids to Las Vegas to see Cirque du Soleil’s KA. It’s my absolute favorite resident Cirque du Soleil show. They loved it just as much as I do!

WHAT IS YOUR IDEA OF PERFECT HAPPINESS?
Being somewhere with both of my kids and knowing they are healthy and happy. I don’t care where we are – we could just be having tea, or eating at a restaurant, or sitting in my hotel room watching a show together. If I am in a room with both of them and they are healthy, then I am at my happiest.
I am also happiest when my kids communicate with me and I can hear that they are alright. They live several states away, and I miss them terribly.

WHAT IS A TRAIT YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF?
I am not afraid to try new things. I was taught to “take advantage of your opportunities,” and I have absolutely done that. Almost every opportunity presented to me, I have taken, so I have done some amazing and extraordinary things in my life.

WHAT HARDSHIPS HAVE YOU ENDURED THAT YOU FEEL HAVE MADE YOU STRONGER?
Nothing has made me stronger. I am strong inside me. That’s all me.
I was not allowed to thrive, so I missed out on many things that people who have had a lot less trauma have been able to thrive with from the get-go. I could have spent my life thriving, and I have spent countless moments in rage and deep grief over “what could have been.”
I grew up in an extremely strict religious belief system. I grew up without any medical care or even comfort care beyond soap and water for washing a wound. I left the belief system in my 40s. That was the scariest thing I have ever done in my whole life.
I also extracted myself from a terrible marriage. That took so much courage, to leave something that was destroying everything that made me – ME.
I have gone through an enormous amount of trauma for all kinds of different things. I would list the things, but it would be a list of trigger warnings for too many people, and I don’t want to dwell on any of it. I’m working hard to move forward now after spending the last 10 years trying to recover.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR YOUNGER SELF?
Follow your heart.
When you’re 18 and you say to your parents, “I don’t want to go to college,” you’re legally an adult, and you can do what you want to do. Consider taking a gap year or attending cosmetology school to learn how to color hair for a living, or pursue a degree in fine arts.
You’re allowed to be happy !! You’re allowed to have emotions, ideas, and needs!!!
Play all the musical instruments you want to play.
Try out for the school plays. If you make a mistake, get back out there and try again.
You’re extraordinarily creative. Ignore the nay-sayers.
Wear what you want and color your hair how you want. It’s just hair. It grows back!
Create artwork and music whenever possible.
Learn about the patriarchy. Learn about what feminism is.
Save money. Stay financially independent.
Don’t rely on anyone to lift you up or take care of you.
Don’t ever get married.

DO YOU HAVE ANY WORDS OF WISDOM FOR YOUNGER WOMEN?
Marriage is a trap! Don’t fall for it!
Stay financially independent.
Once you get married, you’re at the will of a judge to say if you can or cannot get divorced. Don’t get stuck! They can subpoena you as long as they want to, and subject you to court hell that would shock you, until the person you’re divorcing runs out of money, at which point they will finally wrap up the case.

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO OR FAVORITE QUOTE?
Motto: Take advantage of your opportunities.
My favorite quote is something my dad used to always say:
Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you’ll wind up among the stars.
I just came up with this one & want to share this too – You’re never too old to re-evaluate who you are and become a better version of yourself.
Don’t be afraid of color!

WHAT DO YOU MOST VALUE IN YOUR FRIENDS?
I value honesty. I appreciate it when a friend tells me the truth, even if it might hurt. This tells me they truly love me and want the best for me, and that they trust my wisdom to make the best choices for me.

HOW DID YOU CHANGE OVER THE YEARS?
I used to think everyone was a good person. It took me into my 40s to realize that while the majority of people out there are good, there are also terrible people out there, fooling others into thinking they are good people too.
I am no longer trusting. I don’t trust people. I have been working through this with various therapists (I move so often, so my therapist has changed over the years as a result) for more than 10 years now.
I have also learned not to share every relatable thing about me with people who are sharing their stories. I have learned to be quiet and listen more, even though I know I have awesome and fun things to share, and people love hearing my stories!
I have learned what boundaries are and how to hold my boundaries. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m getting better at it. Boundaries are a necessary part of the recipe for finding happiness.

IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I loved being a teenager in the 80s. I loved being in my 20s after college. I loved becoming a mom in my 30s. Leaving my religion and community and everything that comes with leaving a religion in my 40s was scary stuff, but it’s gotten me to a place where I am much more content with my life.
I have grieved my health issues.
If I could change one thing about myself, I would remove my health issues. I have heart issues (for which I have had heart surgery), fibromyalgia, POTS, Compound PTSD, and extensive vision issues. I have also long-battled severe anxiety and agoraphobia. I also have ADHD (and no, it is most certainly NOT a super power – it handicaps me nearly all day, every day).
Another thing I would change is the fact that my body is going through menopause. I’m so tired of hot flashes and pain and all the other things that come with menopause.
With menopause, I feel like I am walking in the dark, bumping into walls, and figuring everything out the hard way. I am so glad that younger generations will have more answers thanks to women like me, who have tried everything to see what works. I’m finally figuring out how to mostly navigate the horrible symptoms menopause has flung on me. I am sharing the answers I have figured out with younger women in the hopes that it will help allay their frustrations in the future.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS?
I hope that everyone finds pockets of kindness in their life. I hope oligarchies continue to be overthrown. I hope that those responsible for their horrific actions are held accountable. I hope their punishment fits their crime.
I hope corporations are no longer allowed to buy up all the real estate and price people out of home ownership if that’s what they want. I hope corporations are held accountable to feed their communities and provide adequate housing.
I hope that future generations will have beautiful, natural vistas to enjoy and breathe in the fresh air.
I look forward to the day when people don’t have to “come out of the closet”. I look forward to a time when people can say, “This is my partner!” and others are just happy to meet the new person, rather than being shocked by the person’s gender.
Shouldn’t we be more concerned with people being good people than with what gender they are and what their private parts look like under their clothes? It’s none of my business what someone looks like under their clothes until I’m about to climb in bed with them and we’re about to get intimate.
There are many things in this life we should concern ourselves with, and what gender someone is or isn’t is not one of them. Let’s all rescue animals and children. Let’s feed hungry people and provide housing for those in need. Let’s work to end systemic racism and misogyny. Those are real issues that actively need to be addressed.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD?
Be kind to yourself inside your head. Treat yourself like the person you love the most. This takes an extraordinary amount of practice, so the sooner you start, the better you’ll get at it.
I have worked with Cirque du Soleil a few times and taken circus and clowning classes with Cirque du Soleil clowns, Ringling Clowns, and other fantastic, extraordinary individuals. It’s an amazing experience to sit backstage with a circus pit orchestra and see a circus from the perspective of the performers, rather than how the audience sees it. We should all strive to see things from a different point of view now and then.
I know how to lace up a circus tent.
It takes a LOT of hard, dedicated work to overcome severe trauma, and it’s worth it to find happiness.
Get to know folks who are older than you are – they have been through some things and have stories to share and lessons to teach us, so we don’t have to learn the hard way.
Get your medical checkups, and consider taking a supportive friend with you if you need one.
I have been interviewed on several podcasts, and a portion of my story was in Oprah’s “O” Magazine in 2018.
My next book is a collaboration between my dad and me. He wrote his portion in the 80s before early-onset Parkinson’s Disease got him. The book will be released on November 18, 2025, on what would have been my dad’s 80th birthday. It’s called “How to Write Your Own Success Book” and is available for preorder on Amazon.