Birthday #36!!

Today is my birthday!

I turn 36 today!

And I don’t have anything special planned. Afterall, it is Tuesday. What can you do on a Tuesday?

All I know is that I am not going to jail, I mean, um, work today… I am thankful for my job, but I absolutely loathe it these days. Being overly bored can do that to you sometimes.

I decided that I just needed some time to myself, by myself, to think about the last year, and the year to come.

I’m not sure what this year will bring. I’m pretty content these days, which seems to be a crime.

I’ve been told that being content is akin to being mediocre…

Go figure.

But today, I find myself reflecting on some of my most memorable birthdays:

I had a birthday party at school the day I turned five. I was in the first grade at that time. I wore a baby blue dress with a wide white collar and red tie (I hated that dress, but Mother liked it.). Anyway, she came up to the school in the afternoon with a cake and ice cream and little radio, and me and my classmates ate and danced. That was a good day.

I didn’t have another birthday party until I turned thirty. I was living in New Orleans at the time, depressed and really hating life. But anyway, I was sitting in my office, and Harry Connick, Jr.’s cousin, Bill, a chemist I had been doing some collaborative research with, called and said he needed me downstairs in his office pronto. I was wondering, on my slow walk down there, what, if anything, I had done wrong. I walked into the lab, and everyone yelled surprised. I was truly surprised. That afternoon, there was another surprise party awaiting in the lunch room when I went down to have lunch. So I was completely shocked each time. That was a special day! My husband had completely forgotten my 30th birthday (I reminded him two days later). Oh well..
he was dead weight, and he is cut lose now...

On my 21st birthday, me and friend Timmy-Tim (who happens to be married to my friend and coworker Cowgirl Cre) left school and walked over to Underground Atlanta. We hit all of the bars, and ordered drinks. No, I didn’t drink anything, I just smiled when asked to show my ID. I quickly whipped it out, and then left for the next bar, much to the bartender’s dismay. What a way to celebrate being legal! That was a good day!

And last but not least, my best friend Lady Tee and I spent my 34th birthday together. This is a trip because we rarely get time together alone (she has kids). But we hung out all day, and went shopping (this was a big jump for me because I HATE shopping), went to the movies, went out to eat. It was so much fun.

“Damn, this is better than sex!!” Lady Tee screamed, while we were speeding down I-75 through downtown Atlanta, listening to Earth, Wind, and Fire, sanging real hard.

**Crickets**

Um, no… It was great, but not THAT great! LOL!

I think we were both just happy to hang out like we did in elementary and high school. We rarely see each other these days.

Something unexpected happen today, on my 36th birthday: My mother called. This is strange because we don’t exactly have a wonderful mother and daughter relationship. Heck, I didn’t even recognize the number on the cell phone. (And when that happens, I usually don’t answer the phone.) But we talked for all of six and a half minutes. She let me know how old I was turning today. (She likes to do that for some reason- weird). She told me that she has my first toy, and it is worth a lot of lot money, if I wanted it. I told her that was okay, she could keep it. She came over a couple of weeks ago and cleaned up my kitchen and living room. (I knew she would come through when I'm not around. Dang, I thought my sister Kay had cleaned up!). And she told me that she was proud of me and all my accomplishments. I nodded my head, as usual, even though she couldn’t see me.

So today has started off… interesting. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the day brings. I plan to hit a couple of movies, hook up with Lady Tee for lunch, and do some more never ending house shopping.

My day seems to be a bit full... But that's okay.

Overall, I am grateful to be here, to be alive, the blood still running warm through my veins, and all those other little things we somethimes take for granted!

Yes indeed!