Happy Birthday #54 to ME!

Today is my Birthday.

Birthday #54!!

I am not turning big cartwheels about it, but I am just happy to see another year of life. It is that simple. 

I have no big plans. Me and LadyTee spend our birthdays together, and I tried to get her to just skip mine this year, and we could spend some time together for her birthday in March. It just makes me anxious to have to find somewhere for lunch, where we have to sit outside on a balcony and be COLD. I do not want to be cold, and there is no way I am sitting in a restaurant full of people without a mask. 

NO.

But she found a place, and it should be in the high 50s in my beloved ATL tomorrow. So I will make sure to wear something warm, maybe a few layers of clothes and eat and be cold. I am gonna make sure to enjoy myself. But besides that, I have no plans. 

I have been eyeing my mini-piggy bank the last few days. If you don't know, I save money from birthday to birthday, then I go put it in the bank. And I buy myself a gift. Last year, I saved a little over $500. I still have that socked away. I am going to count what I have in my little piggy bank tomorrow and figure out how much I have. I think it is around $200-300 dollars. I am putting that with the $500, and going to buy a new cellphone. Or a new laptop. I have not decided what I want to do. I need to travel to DC for a one day work trip soon, so I need a piece of carry on luggage. Not sure what I want to do... but I love opening that piggy bank and counting out my money. I think for 2021, I had some $900! It is shocking how much that little bank can hold. I forgot what I did with it, but it, but it was NOT paying bills. I bought something for myself.

I have spent the past few days pondering the past year. So much has been overshadowed by transitioning to the new job. That, and doing my best to cope with this ongoing isolation due to covid. I miss just running around doing the things I like to do. I have gone to a store, gotten to the door of the store and have had to turn around because...

"Danggit, I forgot my mask!!!!"

*LadyLee stomping back to the parking lot for her mask*

Sigh. I guess this is the new normal. Even with being careful to wear a mask, I still got covid last month. That was another highlight/lowlight of the year. I am just thankful that I came out of it with no seemingly long term issues. At least I don't know about the issues. I skipped my last rheumatology appointment, which was suppose to be last week. (It was 30 degrees that morning, and I did not want to be cold),

I think what I miss most about this past year is my good walking habit. That was the best thing ever, working myself up to walking 3-5 miles a day. Just to be out in the fresh air and sunshine was everything. In October 2022, I decided to walk after a rain shower and I slipped on some mud. I did not fall, but my foot has not been right every since, and it hurts to walk more than 20 or 30 minutes. I have had x-rays and nothing's wrong with the bones. I have sciatica on my right side now, and that makes it worse. I think that slip up just aggravated it. And I have been lazy about figuring out something more low impact to do. That is my fault. I own that. Maybe I will do better about that in year 54 of my life. 

Oh, and another thing.  Pam the Protege has been sold.

Such a funny story. I will write about it soon. But I have had two cars for awhile, since 2012. My work commute has been pretty short (9.5 miles round trip) the last 17 years or so. For the past 10 years, I only put 500 miles a year on Pam, and about 6000 miles a year on Lucy Jr. So with the pandemic and working from home, I only put around 2800 miles a year on Lucy Jr.  And here's the kicker: insurance in the inner city is sky high, so I just took Pam off my insurance and parked it. I could not get her to pass emissions, and I wasn't gonna try to figure it out. Here in GA, once a car turns 25, there is no need for emissions. 

Pam turned 25 in 2022.  And now, in 2024, Lucy Jr. is 25. Insurance would have been around $250 a month for both cars. 

NO. 

So somebody bought Pam. And the story is hilarious. I will write that up soon! LOL

I liked having two cars, but with the invention of rideshare, this is no longer necessary. Oh joy!

And I haven't had a car note since 2004. And I plan to keep it that way.

But that was the highlight of my year. I am sure more took place but I think, like I said, everything has been overshadowed by this new job. I think I got so use to my old job, so comfortable there for 22 years, so much so, that when a hard shift occurred, I spent most of my year getting adjusted. Ugh! That is a high class problem to have, though. I comfort myself with that. Not complaining, but man oh man... I am just still in awe that I had the courage to step out and do something new like change jobs. 

I didn't really even pray about it. I do remember prayers of me needing to think about praying about it. I remember praying about how I need to think about my career and where I need to go with it and where I want to land my career and think about retirement. And voila... new job loaded so fast it made my head spin.

What am I looking forward to in year 54?

I have not thought much about it. I want to have better habits. I want to be a little more courageous and intentional about my personal goals. I tend to be more internal and self-contained these days. I am working on stepping away from that to a point. I know over the past few years, I tend to focus on people who know me and accept my flaws, and I theirs (we all have them), and move more away from social media. I feel like social media is the highlight reels of our lives, the silver lining of our clouds. It is so easy to get over into comparison of my life to the shiny parts of other peoples' lives. When it fact, everybody has a lot going on that they are not posting up. 

My life is not very shiny. I wake up every morning just happy to see a new day and what it will bring. And my days are good. That is all I can ask for. 

There are 8 billion people on this planet. That equals 8 billion complex journeys, all different with complex purposes, trials, triumphs, tribulations, etc. etc... 

I will walk out my journey. 

I cannot wait to see what year 54 brings.

I will walk out my journey. On purpose.