I fell asleep Thursday night thinking about waking up to my 65th birthday. The decade birthdays are big, but the 65th is a real life marker. For months leading up to this birthday, your are bombarded with mail reminding you of all you have to do before that 65th. There is Medicare A & B, supplemental, dental, prescription. The paperwork so you get your pension. It takes months to get ready for this birthday. You start thinking about how you are going to spend the rest of your life because life gets real at this point. You are either retired, semi-retired, about to be retired or realizing you may never retire. Whether you like your job or not, work structures your life. What will you do when you wake up with nothing to do? I don't even want to talk about the physical changes. I am eating clean and working out, but my body is different. No denying it. In spite of all these thoughts dancing through my head, I did wake up happy on Friday, May 20.
Dolly woke me up about 6:15 AM when she jumped up on the bed and laid down next to me. Now that is a happy wake up call. She rarely does that and I milk it when she does. So on this morning of my 65th year, I woke up and milked some love from my dog. Eventually I got up, drank part of a bottle of water, did a 30 minute lower body workout and then a 10 minute ab workout. A healthy breakfast awaited me: scrambled egg (1 egg and some egg whites) with cottage cheese in them, one turkey bacon strip, black grapes and a slice of cucumber. More water. A protein shake for lunch.
A look at my phone...I was amazed to see so many birthday wishes. Thank you Face Book.
Music: K D Lang's Hymns Of The 49th Parallel. What could be better than this? A friend reminded me how much I would love to be sitting in a pub in Ireland listening to Van Morrison play live. That would top this, but I am happy with KD.
The day continued on its normal path. I worked in my office from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM with an hour break. Had a wonderful birthday dinner at Café Michel's in Clifton Forge, VA. Yum. Ravioli stuffed with lobster and crabmeat in a champagne sauce. Culinary Heaven. Even a clean eater has to get down and dirty every now and then.
Saturday I got up early for a Pilates workout before driving to Penny's Diner in Lowmoor for breakfast with an old friend. She was visiting Lexington for the weekend and wanted to say Happy Birthday in person. We cannot remember when we last saw each other, but agreed it has been a few years. Two hours flew by. We were not finished with our visit, but she had to get on the road.
It was quite foggy and cool. A little misty. Ya know, it kind of feels like I am in Ireland.
Next stop, Main Street in Covington to check out The Anything and Everything Store, a new business which Tommy Snyder had let us know about on Face Book.
Back home I had a healthy lunch before secluding myself in my office to go through some photographs in search of a painting project. The combination of Mary Chapin Carpenter and some of the old photos I went through left me in tears. You name the emotion, I moved my way through it. I think I may have found an art project. We'll see. I don't have a clue what I am doing when I paint, I just dig in and hope something decent evolves. I'll let you know.
A dear friend messaged me that this is going to be a great year for me. So far so good. I trust everything she says so I have no problem inviting you to participate in my joyful year. Perhaps I will celebrate your birthday with you. Have your people call my people. Cheers.
