Time. And birthdays.
Abstract inside Bromo Seltzer Tower in Baltimore
Time is funny, it’s a constant (we think) and it’s relentless…time does not go on vacation. Momentous things sometimes happen on our birthdays. Today is my wife’s birthday and it will be a fun celebration. In many ways, a birthday is just another day, celebrating another trip around the sun. In other ways, it’s a celebration of life and longevity and the labor of our mothers. Happy Day, Diane!!
Memories of my birthdays popup in my mind once in a while. My seventh was the whooping and that memory won’t go away. I passed my driver’s license test on my 16th birthday and started driving immediatley. I registered for the draft on my 18th. On my 19th birthday I was old enough to drink 3.2 beer (in South Dakota). On my 21st birthday I was old enough to drink hard liquor. On my 30th, I was on an all night pig roast with my fellow Forward Air Controllers of the 23 Tactical Air Support Squadron. My birthday cake was a little OV-10 going over the hill, just like me. When I turned 70, Diane was in her second cancer challenge and was between Chemo sessions #4 & 5 and felt well enough to go on a picnic. Kelsey and Kyle joined us at a local vineyard. I’m sure the other birthdays were fantastic, too, but those memories are in gray cells that have retired.
Keeping track of time now is different. If I need a jacket, it’s winter. If it’s miserably hot and humid, it’s summer. If tempers are flying and rhetoric is overwhelming it’s an election year. But I always know what day it is, it’s printed on my morning pillbox and that’s where I start every day. Smile.
Happy Birthday, Diane! Today will be fun!
Diane and Sunshine on a winter walk
Diane & Lee at the vineyard.