Happy Birthday to Me…

I’m the luckiest woman in the world.

Today I’m officially a “geezer.” (I was probably one yesterday, too, but it wasn’t ‘official’ until today. )

I’ve had a three-day celebration, starting with a scoop of chocolate ice cream after bowling on Wednesday with good friends, a Chinese dinner last night with my husband, and chocolate cake today at lunch with friends.

This week I’ve received birthday cards via snail mail, e-cards via email, email birthday wishes, and social network birthday wishes. I received presents from long time friends, and I bought myself a present. :0)

My husband of 43 years (in June) and I love our lives. We’re so busy we don’t know how we ever found the time to work full time. We’re creating stained glass pieces and metal ‘critters’ in our shop. We’re eating healthy and walking every day possible (since mid January). We’re really treasuring our time together.

We chose a new pattern we found on the net for a new stained glass piece. We obtained permission to use it from the artist who created the design, Chantal Pare’,  so as soon as we can get time and energy together, we’ll start!

Our son is in Shanghai, China, trying to become fluent in Mandarin. He’ll stay as long as possible, delighting in the people and the culture. He arranged that we could communicate via a chat program, a special phone setup that allows us to talk as if we were in the same state, email, Skype, and blog. We communicate most every day, so I’m only missing his great hugs.

 

Our dogs love our new walking habit. We take one of the two with us every day. Keeping track of them straining on the leash makes the walk more interesting for my husband while I concentrate on watching where I’m walking and not falling on my head.

With losing weight and exercising daily, we’re healthier every day. Today at lunch, a lady we haven’t seen in a couple of months immediately commented on how much weight we’d lost and how good we looked! We have a long way to go before we reach our weight and fitness goals, but it’s GREAT when someone notices we’re trying.

I’m itching to spend time in the yard. My daffodils have been blooming for about three weeks now, and my husband saved a tulip from getting beaten down in the rain we had yesterday. Today our red bud trees are in bloom!  We have bags and bags of potting soil with which we’ll replenish the mysteriously disappearing soil from our planters, and Breck’s told me that the flowers I ordered to plant in the shade on the north side of our house have shipped.

 

My two jobs – running my website, Creative Artworks, and writing – for this blog and for a dear friend who runs another website – are the best, most satisfying jobs I’ve ever had.  I’ve met so many people across the world I now count as my good friends, even though we’ve never met face to face.

So, at 65 today – I can say I’ve never been happier.  Happy Birthday to me!

Old age is fifteen years older than I am.

“Old age is fifteen years older than I am.”  Oliver Wendell Holmes

Tomorrow, March 9th, I celebrate my birthday. My 65th birthday. In a previous life, I would have been really appalled – depressed – about reaching such an ‘old’ age. In my current life, I’m celebrating!

“Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough.” Groucho Marx

I’ve had a few health scares the past 3 years – ones that I thought meant the end of my existence. There is nothing that gets your attention and makes you rethink what’s important faster or more effectively than that.

“We don’t grow older, we grow riper.”  Pablo Picasso

As I dealt with, and survived each of these, my attitude about EVERYTHING changed. I quit worrying about MANY things that used to really give me grief.  I stopped doing things I didn’t like as much as possible.

“The older I get the better I used to be!” Lee Trevino

I started reaching out more and telling people how much they meant to me. I made a promise that I would treat every member of my family better than ever – doing everything I could to make every day a wonderful one for them.

“Older people shouldn’t eat health food, they need all the preservatives they can get.”  Robert Orben

When my husband had HIS health scare in January of this year, we decided to get serious about doing whatever we could to make whatever years we had left as wonderful as we could make them. That meant seriously working to get the lard off and MOVING more – getting stronger and more fit. So far, my husband has lost almost 27 pounds and I’ve lost 20, plus almost 8 inches.

“As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can’t remember the other two.” Norman Wisdom

We’re walking at the local park every day we can. I started out really pathetically, after more than 30 years of sedentary living and overeating. I’m getting stronger every day, though! We also just joined the local Athletic Club – free for geezers! The plan is to start going 2 or 3 times per week to get strength help.

“Inside every older person is a younger person – wondering what the hell happened.”  - Unknown

“The older I get, the more I embrace my own idiosyncrasies.” Brittany Murphy

In the meantime, I’m having a three-day celebration of living to be another glorious year older!  Actually, my celebration started a couple of weeks ago when I ordered a framed tile from one of my artists on Creative Artworks as my present to me.  (I started this new tradition of buying something I really wanted for myself on my birthday when I weathered the FIRST health scare.) :0)

“The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.”  Lucille Ball

“The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.”  Madeleine L’Engle

Last night we went bowling with our good friends, the Taylors.  Our tradition there is to commiserate with each other, or celebrate, our bowling scores with a scoop of ice cream from Braum’s afterwards.  I, of course, had chocolate.

“I’m so old they’ve cancelled my blood type.”  Bob Hope

“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping  yourself, the other for helping others.”  Audrey Hepburn

Tonight my husband and I are going to our favorite local Chinese restaurant. We haven’t been since we started our new way of eating mid January, so this will be a huge treat!

“I’m just getting older and better.” Neal Schon

Tomorrow, when we meet our good friends for “Lunch Bunch” as we do each Friday, I’ll have a piece of chocolate cake as the final piece of my celebration. :0)

“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?”   Satchel Paige

“There is still no cure for the common birthday.”  John Glenn

So, far from feeling sad or anxious about this significant birthday, I’m feeling jubilant! I now qualify for Medicare – if our government doesn’t allow it to go under.  As I said before, I qualified for FREE membership at the local athletic club.  I’ve survived THREE health scares and am healthier than I’ve been in years.

“Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.”  - Unknown

“Old age is no place for sissies.”  Bette Davis

I’m enjoying wearing larger and flashier dangling earrings. I’m enjoying buying many things in my favorite color – PURPLE. I’m enjoying the best jobs in the world – running my website and writing my blog.

“I didn’t get old on purpose, it just happened. If you’re lucky, it could happen to you.” Andy Rooney

I’m enjoying each day – as it whizzes past my head. I’m taking the time to plant the flowers I want in my planters, spend as much time on the computer as my husband will allow, spend a lot more time trying to create things in my artroom, as well as create ‘critters’ in the shop with my husband.

“Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and wlll preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand – strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, ‘WOO HOO – What a Ride!’”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEE!