Birthday!

Happy birthday to me!  The tiara and sash are gifts from my little niece, so I was dressed by a 4-year-old!  We called her before heading to dinner, and her eyes got so big and round when she saw that I was wearing the crown she picked out.  A tiny fashionista is what we have there!  Jerry was happy today, mostly, since he spent a large chunk of time on my lap and had a great time being petted.  He was very excited this morning, I don’t know why, but by the time my nurse arrived he’d calmed down and was in a cuddling mood.  Don was also in a good mood, with an extra dose of energy, which always makes me happy.  The smoke was still bad, so going outside wasn’t a priority, then it started to rain around 2pm.  I just said, “Oh, it always rains on my birthday,” so I wasn’t worried… then the thunderstorms rolled in, followed by a tornado warning and a very impressive deluge!  It eased up enough for us to walk over to the restaurant, rained off and on while we were eating, and on the way home, the heavens opened up when we’d got halfway home in a spot with ZERO cover… a thousand thanks to my friends who walked me home and got soaked in the process.  I’m dreadfully sorry that you were caught in the rain, and I know I won’t live that down for a long time to come!

I’ve had a lovely, mostly quiet day, with lots of phone calls, emails and messages — all of which I truly appreciate.  Dinner was also great, a little noisy but we had an enjoyable time.  One of my friends arranged to have a cake (and my sister had candles in her purse) so we had the cake with the traditional singing of “Happy Birthday” and candles.  Excellent lemon cake, and Don managed to get some!  The best part was that my sister shared in my day, so that made it a 6-star (on a scale of 1-5). It’s still raining, and according to the forecast will continue for a few days.  All fine.

This is going to be short, since I’m pleasantly tired after the merriment.  Birthdays are something that I celebrate con gusto because I think that making another revolution around the sun is worth marking.  Did you know, for instance, that people who live the longest have the most birthdays?  Definitely worth celebrating.  This year, though, I realized that I’ve jumped into a new “age range” category, and I’m eligible for certain discounts in some stores.  Age has its benefits, I won’t argue.  Some of the accompaniments for aging are less than ideal, but again, I’m going to enjoy as many as I can for as long as possible.

That being said, I’m off to get some sleep.  I timed my meds so that I could go out to dinner and not have to sit up until midnight so it’s now time for rest.  Tomorrow I have a day of Zoom meetings as we do the first day of reviews for the grant applications, so I need to be alert and ready!  Jerry is curled up being hugged like a teddy bear, and I’ll just pack up for the night.  Good night!