dual personalities

Tag: birthday

April 21, 2022

Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life*

by chuckofish

What is it about Easter candy? I have a hard time resisting–especially those malted milk eggs.

I had a lovely birthday. A beautiful flower arrangement from the OM was delivered while I was on the phone with the boy, who called to say Happy Birthday.

Daughter #2 checked in with Katiebelle before daycare…

Happy Birthday, Mamu!

Daughter #1 drove in from Jeff City after lunch and we went to an event at our favorite local store where our Insta-pals the Madcaps (@madcapcottage) were the special guests.

It was great to meet Jason and John, who seem like old friends. Jason’s Mom and my Mom both went to Middlebury! OMG. Daughter #2 told them it was my birthday and Jason said, “40 is a great year!” Bingpot! Then we met Becky across the street at 19th North for some wine.

We opened presents at home and ate some of an Edible Arrangement from my old friend Denise…

What more can anyone want?

Indeed, birthdays aren’t so bad. I refuse to be depressed like most modern poets, such as Donald Hall: 

Let us stifle under mud at the pond's edge 
and affirm that it is fitting
and delicious to lose everything.

Heck, no. I prefer to think positive: We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

…and also this:

The righteous flourish like the palm tree
    and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
    they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age;
    they are ever full of sap and green,
15 to declare that the Lord is upright;
    he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Psalm 92: 12-15

Ever full of sap and green!

*Proverbs 16:31

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April 21, 2015

“I don’t feel very different, she said”*

by chuckofish

2015-04-20 22.20.06

I had a nice birthday. At my age, I do not need (or expect) much. A nice sign:

20150420_093654

a cake:

DSCN1355

…dinner cooked by someone else, a few thoughtful gifts, and I am more than happy.

I had a new movie to watch and a new book to read–what more could I want? World peace?

I had a pleasant and quiet weekend too, although I did get a little bummed out when I went to an estate sale and discovered it was indeed the home of a friend who died last year. Her husband must be down-sizing, and I get that, but, really, couldn’t her married sons have stored her stuff? Did they have to sell it all? Her monogrammed towels? Her sewing projects? Her teacups and golf trophies? All those Christmas decorations? It was depressing and it put me in a bad mood.

I went to church, because I was reading the second lesson (“Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous….”). I had signed up to give the altar flowers that day, so I was pleased to see this in the bulletin:

bulletin

I like to see my parents (and friend Irene) remembered a couple of times a year. The flowers were pretty too.

Sunday was a rainy day, so I changed my after-church plans and headed back home to my basement clean-up. I found another box of stuff from days gone by–college notebooks and letters from the year I was a house counselor at a boarding school in Virginia. These were letters I wrote to my fiancé back in flyover country, and I must say, they were pretty hilarious. I had forgotten so much about that year. Which makes me think (again) how much will be forgotten because no one writes letters any more. Sigh. Anyway, I enjoyed my afternoon remembering those bygone days of my youth.

So one more birthday has come and gone. I’ve come a long way, baby, right?

babykatie2

My big brother is decked out with a gun belt, knife, kerchief, and a cool canteen.

P.S. Did you spy with your little eye the Playmobil Martin Luther in the top photo? Awesome. Someone reads this blog closely!

*”Back When We Were Beautiful” by Emmylou Harris

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