Now We Are One and Fifty

When I was little birthdays meant a decorated chair, ice cream for breakfast. and cupcakes for my classroom at school.  As I got older, toys gave way to more practical presents, like electric typewriters.  Yes, I'm old enough that I actually used a typewriter to type my papers for school.  That particular typewriter helped me earn extra spending money during college by typing papers for others.

I got carded for the first time on my 19th birthday.  At that point in time, 19 was the legal drinking age in Minnesota.  The next year found me in Illinois, where the drinking age was raised from 18 to 21 right before my birthday.  The year after that my friends threw me a major party that was memorialized in the yearbook (how many college students can you fit on a twin bed?).

For my 33rd birthday Brian and I spent a long weekend in Newport, RI.  Dad had died the previous November, his mother three weeks after that, and I needed to get away.  I spent my 34th birthday sitting at LaGuardia Airport waiting for a flight to Nashville that never left because of a snowstorm. 

The big 4-0 resulted in a party planned by a friend that turned out to be more for her birthday than mine.  For the last five years or so, a small group of us gets together and plans some sort of surprise day trip or special dinner for each birthday.  Last year, for my 50th, they worked with Mom to plan a big celebration.  This year, we'll be doing a combined Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Birthday party later in the month.  We just couldn't find a mutually convenient date in December for the holiday party.

So today, on my 51st birthday, I spent a quiet day at home.  I took pictures of snow.  I dug out the non-functioning car (yes, I still have to get it into the shop).  I took more pictures.  I continued hunting for a job.  A group of my former colleagues gathered together and called me to sing Happy Birthday with much joy and laughter.  And many many friends posted good wishes on my Facebook wall.  All in all, not a bad day.