on turning sixty (6-0)!

October 14, 2010

♫ Happy Birthday to me ♫

Today had a surreality to it. Sixty years ago today, on a Saturday, I came into the world. Backside first and folded in half, all nine pounds of me. My poor mother! In all seriousness, she almost lost her life giving birth to me and I am grateful that God spared her. Unfortunately, she was spared to witness not only the good parts of my life (there are many), but also, the not-so-good (again, there were many of those too!). And, my mom is still living to see her baby turn sixty. For those of you who are wondering, sixty is NOT nifty when it is on you!

This morning I sat at the dining room table with a hot mug of coffee, the lights off except for the breaking daylight eeking through the kitchen windows and I prayed. For myself actually. I told the Lord that I was sixty today, as if He didn’t already know this, and He gently reminded me that I had been sixty for a year already and today only marks the beginning of my sixty-first year of living. Hmm…thank You, God, I think!!!

My heavenly Father and I had a great talk…I shared my heart and listened for His still small voice. Silence. I’ve learned that God speaks the loudest in the silence and I received our time short together as very good.

The day wore on. I work from home and it was not an extraordinary day…my water cooler chats were many as were the brief visits at the coffee pot. You see, when one works from home, social media sites are your office and your friends and tweets are your co-workers.  Everyone was gracious with the birthday wishes and never once did anyone bring up how many candles were on my non-existent birthday cake!  Except for one – my sister, who, after giving me a blessing mentioned that I was now older than her…which, of course is not true as she is four years minus five days my senior! I must not leave out that Sharpshooter made us breakfast and served it in my office.

By the time three o’clock came, I realized this was going to be a jammie-day.  I was still in them! Aagh, why not? It’s not every day one becomes older than dirt. The weather matched my mood – which wasn’t really bad nor really good – just gray and dreary. Six o’clock rolled around and SS served up grilled cheese and tomato soup – yes, I was still in my PJ’s. We decided to do some serious celebrating and put in a dvd, As Time Goes By, the BBC series with Judy Dench – leave it to dry British humor to bring some spark into the day. We laughed, at times, hysterically.

Ten o’clock and we got in bed, with the tv on, and SS looked over at me and said, “Aren’t those the same pajamas you woke up in and have had on all day long?” Hmm, “Yes, they are – it’s my birthday, so just leave me alone!” All of this was said with humor and laughter. “I promise tomorrow I will do better but let me have my moment.”

The morning came, and I did do better – showered, washed my hair, shaved my legs, even put on “street” clothes, after all, it was the first day of my sixty-first year!!! Celebrate!