...to little ones who sang me happy birthday in their mother's car or told me happy birthday over the phone to donuts and pizza and even a dancing pickle! (I never had a dancing pickle before!)
Last year I shared happy birthday posts with family members and named the Top 5 Things I Loved About the birthday girl or boy and The Top 5 Things I Would Give Them If Time, Money and Resources Were No Object. Well that was fun, but I haven't done anything similar this year. Then I got to thinking about starting something similar as 5 Things I've Learned From the birthday boy or girl as a way of appreciating who they are in my life. And I thought I would practice what this might look like by starting off with my birthday -
5 Things I've Learned in my life in the last year...
# 5 - Pain. Sucks. Chronic pain really sucks UNLESS I can gain some compassion for others who live with chronic pain for much longer and with much more intensity than I experienced. Then it doesn't suck so much. And that's all I'm going to say about that.
# 4 - "Change of life" for women of a certain age is an exercise in extremes - at least it is for me. I am still learning a lot about this sort of thing, but I've learned this much. Plan to swing....NOT in that one definition of the word, but in the one end of the spectrum to the other in a matter of a few hours definition. Extreme exhaustion to insomnia. Very cold to very hot in that sudden, flashy sort of way. Extreme emotion swings that border on the cray-cray. Some of you will have heard about the Proverbs 31 woman. She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue, and she can laugh at the days to come. I'm now starting to wonder if she can laugh at the days to come because she has hit "The Change" and is laughing in that "we have a special jacket for you" sort of way.
# 3 - I still love The Sound of Music movie, even on the hillside of the St. Louis Art Museum to celebrate it's 50th anniversary. And I love having a husband who will share The Sound of Music on the hillside of the St. Louis Art Museum on a summer Friday evening surrounded by 500 of our closest friends singing along.
# 2 - Peach butter is a great way to use up frozen peaches that didn't freeze very well and don't bake up well in pies. And pickle crocks are cool in an old-fashioned sort of way.
# 1 - I can walk 2 miles in under 40 minutes. It helps to watch Parenthood while I walk. It can make the 2 miles go by much faster. Netflix is a great thing. So is having two working feet and legs and two working arms and hands and two working eyes and ears. All good things to celebrate on this 2015 birthday!
That's all. Happy! Happy! To birthdays and learning and love!!
Signed,
Now 54 Years Livin'...
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