Fifty-one

Wait.  Should I not mention my advanced age?  Too late, I guess.

Today, on January 28–which I still consider “today” since I haven’t gone to bed yet–I had my fifty-first birthday.  I find it ludicrous that I’m this old.  I outlived my dad by four years.  When my mom was this age, she was a grandmother.  It stands to reason that I’m more than halfway through my life span, unless I live to be older than 102.  That is a sobering thought.

And while Hollywood celebrities my age (I’m looking at you, Brooke Shields and Sarah Jessica Parker) still manage to look thirty, I don’t, much to my 13-year old daughter’s chagrin.  Getting old is not for the faint of heart.  You can’t “filter” away saggy eyelids.

(I know that everyone older will cluck and say, “Oh, you’re young!” and everyone young will shudder and say, “Oh, you’re so old!”  Life is weird.)

So, here’s how my day went.

I intended to sleep in since I was taking off half the day from work.

The dog barked her fool head off, starting at 8 or so and continuing off and on until 9:30 AM.  Thanks, Dog.

The carpool moms texted me with information about who would be picked up or not this afternoon.  (This happened during the dog’s quiet moments, when I’d drifted back to sleep.)

My college roommate texted me a birthday greeting from another time zone.  Yep, that woke me, too.

I finally got up, made my bed, and had enough time to take a quick shower before taking my son to work.  Meanwhile, my hair dried naturally and so I had lovely puffy hair all day.  Roseanne Roseannadanna, if you know what I mean.

My husband arrived home and we headed off for lunch at the Harbor.  (Birthday coupon, $25 off, yay.)  It was a beautiful day, seventy degrees, sunny.  Perfect.  We drove around to the ocean beach after lunch so I could take a few pictures, including this one:

Then back home where I cleaned up the kitchen until it was time to drive carpool.  I took Grace through Starbucks for a celebratory drink and then it was time to drop off a son at work and hurry back to the beach for the sunset.

Home again in time for dinner . . . then time for relaxing and texting and reading and finally, birthday cake and gifts before work again.

And now, the day’s done.

And the year of fifty-one has begun.

(Fun.)

(Rhymes.  Ha ha.)