THE BIRTHDAY QUEEN AND NUMBERS

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Today is my birthday!  I just checked my facebook page to find a number of birthday greetings (our #1 daughter being the first) and it warmed my heart to see so many people cared to take the time to write a birthday greeting.  I am humbled.

Yesterday the mail contained multiple cards.  Saturdays mail even had two cards from the same person one of which is responsible for the title of this post.  The card simply said “Birthday Queen” with a crown on the front.  Inside it said, “Happy Birthday, Your Royal Wonderfulness.”  Now this sweet person (daughter #2) knows me well!!!  In fact I am wearing my “Queen of Absolutely Everything” shirt today as it is my birthday and I am the Queen of this day in this house today!!!

My boyfriend greeted me first thing with a “Happy Birthday”.  As he left he asked about dinner.  It is only two of us this year and he has scouts tonight so thinking take out Chinese will be on tap – hooray!!!  Otherwise no big deal.  The gift I wanted has arrived and is waiting for unpacking.  A new sewing machine may be nothing to some – for me I am very excited and have projects already lined up to run through the stitches it promises.

Are any of you wondering why the word “Numbers” is in the title?  If you are not that is okay.  The number issue is something I do not know what to do about.  It is just a tantalizing thought that I am about to share.  Perhaps it means real luck.  Perhaps it is simply 2 numbers that worked out this way.  It has been fascinating me since I discovered it.

I googled “what do numbers mean” and the definition popped up of course.  This was followed by “Numbers in the Bible”, “Spiritual meaning of numbers”,  “Repeating and Recurring Numbers” “Angel Numbers” and “Numbers and their Meaning”.  I looked further into the last one and was greeted with the Fibonacci Number and more. This article then started going through every single number to 13 and then did some double digits to 99.  The two numbers I am concerned with were not mentioned.

So here is the most interesting thing about this day and year.  Can someone tell me what it means?

Today I turn 68.  To me that is a great number as psychologically for most of my life I could not envision life after 35 as that is the age my mother died.  Despite having aunts who lived longer this is a real issue in girls who lose their mothers at a young age.  Needless to say I worked through it and moved on.  I was born in 1947.  That is the other number,  47.  So I am dealing with two numbers 68 and 47.

Now here is the punch line.

I was married in 1968 and this year we will celebrate 47 years.  See it?  68 and 47 again.  What are the chances of this happening I wonder?  I am taking it as lucky and a blessing and I WILL buy a lottery ticket today!!!

Off to make my birthday a fun day and may just take the day off and read or watch a movie.  It’s my party and I can do what I want to right???

Thank you to all who sent a card or message via email or facebook.  You are my blessings.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

…THE CELEBRATION CONTINUES…

 

GOOD MORNING WORLD

 

On June 23^rd I posted that I was going to celebrate my birthday all year long and for the celebration to begin.  Yesterday I posted that I like living an ‘other-centered life’.  Yesterday I had the ‘funnest’ day combining these two.  I took myself to Dallas TX and surprised my granddaughter on her 10^th birthday.  What fun!  Our daughter did not even know I was coming.  The joy and happiness on their faces was a huge reward to me.  The fun will continue as the two grandchildren and I wend our way back to Maryland over the next few days.

 

The idea behind this surprise started when our daughter called me on Sunday and said your granddaughter said the thing she really wanted for her birthday was for Grandmama to be here.  Well you have to know I started moving heaven and earth to see if this could happen.  It was looking pretty bleak until a couple good buys from Orbitz and Avis and away I was going.

 

Have not flown in years since all the TSA regs of groping and body scans.  There now is a body scan image of me somewhere.  Believe me it will make your eyes water!!!  Aside from these goodies air travel is about the same – lines and lines and more lines.  You run into crabby people and some really nice ones.  The really nice ones were unavailable this morning.  I ended up in the first row middle seat between two businessmen who slept most of the way.  One snored!

 

As I sat there I got to think about what it took to get me here and what fun it was going to be when I arrived.  It occurred to me to question who was I doing this for really?  The other-centered part of me said it was for Lady J.  The Grandmama in me seemed quite selfish and said it was for me.  It was quite a conundrum?  Perhaps it can be both. 

 

I love doing stuff for others.  I like doing things to help at any time.  Especially if asked and I can say yes.  Or if I have something that I know will help someone else I will offer it to them.  I usually will ask that my name is not in the mix.  The best is when the others do not know it was done by you.  It is fun to see the results.  Anonymity is the best.  So you have been other-centered – doing for others and you are happy.  Were you being self-centered in your generosity?  I ended up believing it does not matter! 

 

When the door was opened to me and my chatty daughter had no words and tears came to her eyes, our grandson jumped up stunned and the birthday girl just looked down from the top of the stairs not sure what was happening – it did not matter – we all were very happy.  

 

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

 

INDEPENDENCE DAY

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Happy 4th of July to one and all.  This is the day to celebrate our good old USA.  This is the day of family picnics and fireworks and parades.

As a child we would go to Bar Harbor ( a neighboring town) for the fireworks.  They were held at the dock and shot out over the water.  Oh we ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ with the best of any group.  They were fun.  I also saw the fireworks in DC in 1975 as they were gearing up for the 200th anniversary of our country – what a display that was!!!  Now I really like watching them on PBS from Boston with the Boston Pops playing the music and both music and fireworks are in sync.  I would love to see those in person one day.  I am not sure the celebrations this year will garner as much attention with the fourth being on a Wed.  Many are having their displays on the Sat before or the Sat after or not at all due to weather conditions.

The 4th is the day of day for parades.  We got up early in my childhood to go to Bar Harbor for their big parade.  There were bands and little cars with Shriners in them scooting about.  There were floats that had people tossing candy.  I remember a specific float from the Holsum Bread company that tossed out roll sized loaves of bread!!!  Later on my ‘Coffee Club” would design and construct floats for another parade – oh many love parades!!!

The 4th is a time when families get together and have parties or picnics.  For many years we would go to a cousin’s camp and boat and swim and water ski.  I vividly remember the 4th when I was 10 years old.  I saw no fireworks that year as I had been rushed to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy!!!  While I missed the fireworks I still made out like a bandit as in those days it was in the hospital for two weeks.  Do you know how many presents a 10 yr old can get from all the relatives while being in the hospital at that time???

The 4th has many memories for me and actually as a festive holiday takes a back seat to many others.  I do not know when it lost it’s lackluster.  This year, being on a Wednesday, means we get an extra day to play and a short work week.  Otherwise it is just another day.  Do not get me wrong – it is the celebrations that I can take or leave.  The meaning of the day probably grows as the celebrations wane.  I get tears of joy and pride in my eyes when I think about America and see a flag on display.  The patriotic music stirs my soul.  The history intrigues me more and more as the years go by.

Three Presidents died on this day.  James Monroe was the most recent in 1831.  Five years earlier in 1826 we lost John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.  These two founding fathers had had an interesting relationship.  Respectful foes pops to mind as a way to describe it.  Competitive might also work.  In July of 1826 they each knew the other was ill.  On this day in 1826 John Adams died and his last words were, “Thomas Jefferson lives.”  The intimation is thatAdamseven lost this one.  The fact is that Jeffersonhad died 5 hours earlier and the Adams family had not been notified.

There are many other little known facts about this day – google it.  You will find that we split from England actually in the 2nd of July.  You will also find that the Declaration was not signed until August 2nd and then only 50 men signed it.  It was not until January of the next year that the final signature was affixed to the document.  It is also the birthday of Malia Obama, our President’s daughter.

We live in the greatest country in the world.  We as responsible citizens must preserve our republic as it stands One Nation Under God.  Like the President or not the fact that we can have any say in who sits in that office is truly a gift from our founding fathers.  We are one nation and I pray all who read this have a “Grand Old Day”.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN

GOOD MORNING WORLD

When I was a teen I woke up on my 16th birthday and jumped to look in the mirror.  I was sure some magic had happened overnight and that I would be more mature or automatically an adult or at least the acne would be gone.  No such luck.  I was greeted by the same face that greeted me the day before only it was 24 hrs older.  AH the disappointment.  Perhaps this is a girl thing.  I really cannot imagine that the boys my age did the same thing. 

Sixteen was to be the age – for what I do not remember.  Well we could drive at 16.  This would have been exciting except I had my license already as I was eligible at 15 with the Driver Ed course I had taken the summer before.  That was an experience!  The Triumverate had been in that car.  Our Driver Ed teacher was unflappable.  The time that Shirley took the corner on two wheels and Liz and I were hanging on in the back will remain with me forever.  Mr. Heel simply said, “Shirley, the next time you might want to do as the book tells you and brake before you enter the curve.”  In the back seat Liz and I were gasping for air to regain our composure!

Sixteen – what was I expecting?  Expectations can be the downfall of our fun times.  I do not remember how I celebrated that birthday.  Evidently it was not memorable.  I am betting though I have some memorabilia in a scrapbook somewhere.  I do know that it was June and I was out of school and working at my summer job – whatever that was that year.  What do we expect of birthdays?

Well it is here again and a huge number.  A number we spent our lives looking forward too – well until the legislation changed and few were aware of the change – and then we found out we would have to wait longer for our earned benefits.  So here it is:

 TODAY IS MY 65TH BIRTHDAY!!!

 I woke up this morning like any other day.  The good thing is it is a Saturday and I can be lazy without guilt.  The intimation and truth of that statement is that I am lazy other days and sometimes accept the afore mentioned guilt.  On Saturdays we usually have a late breakfast and then forge into chores or relaxation – whatever is on the schedule.  Today it is MY day and relaxation is on the menu along with my husband cooking breakfast.  Maybe a movie or go out to dinner somewhere later.

Last Thursday, as birthday cards, phone calls and gifts were beginning to arrive, I was getting a bit blue as I was thinking about no kids or family or friends being here – it would be my hubby and I alone.  Not bad as I do like him, just not what I expected for my 65th.  I thought we would be retired and relaxing at our cottage for the summer and have a big family celebration.  Again those expectations!!!  Sadly, due to my life experience of my mother dying young, I lived the first 36 years of my life thinking that would be all I was allotted.  Now that I am almost double that I am finally convinced I will be here much longer.  My husband even noticed my mood when he got home from work last Thursday and gave me a big hug.  Enough! Shake this off I said to myself.  I must change this – no expectations.  What can I do to make this wonderful?  I decided to give myself a gift this year. 

MY GIFT to me is a YEAR OF CELEBRATION!  I already have plans to go to a Spa in September – never done before – so I am just expanding on that idea.  I am going to celebrate each day, if I choose to, in some way.  It may simply be to take a couple of hours and read.  I am going to use those coupons that come in the mail – one free dinner – and go to all those restaurants if I want!  I am going to leave the bed unmade just because or let the ironing pile up – worse than it does.  I may actually go to a movie in the middle of the week in the middle of the afternoon alone to the surprise of Barb and Linda.  If I want Chinese I am going to order it without worry that not everyone will like it.  If I want a bottle of expensive champagne I am going to buy it – not the $10 – go for the $40+ or even Dom!  If I find a travel deal I am going to try to convince my husband to take it.  I may return to Paris or finally take a cruise.  If I want a grandchild fix – I will go find them!

There are those, like my husband who will say that doing what I want is not new.  True – the difference will be me and my attitude.  Instead of just doing it and perhaps having remorse or the rare guilt, I am going to seize the opportunities and not second guess and miss out like I have sometimes in the past.  I have the best family, wonderful old and new friends and happiness.  I am going to acknowledge all of that, my joy and celebrate my life.  I am going to be open to whatever the Lord has in store for me.  No expectations, only gratitude for a wonderful life thus far!

LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!!!

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…