(08/06/12) My 32nd Birthday

"The woman who tells her age is either too young to have anything to lose or too old to have anything to gain." -- Chinese Proverb

I suppose this doesn't account for those of us who simply do not care. When I started teaching, I was one of the few young librarians (yeah, I prefer that title to Media Specialist) and it made me unique. I held on to being "the baby" quite strongly figuring that perhaps that alone made me relevant. Now, after ten years, there are more than a few young 'uns and I am one of many and these "kids" talk about and do things that I don't even know about. So, it has bothered me to age professionally. It has never bothered me to age personally with the exception of my metabolism slowing down. Ah, to be able to eat like a 20-year-old!

How did I spend the day? For the most part, quietly. George was approached by the bosses last week and asked to work some extra hours. Smart hubby did a horse-trade and traded for half the day off on my birthday! Clever man!

The morning was mostly standard: slept in a little, coffee, food, ran some errands with mom until after lunchtime. By then George was home and napping. I snuggled in bed next to him finishing a book, The Life of Pi,  that I just could not make it to the end of the night before only because of drooping eyelids. 

George woke up and we just lounged and talked. Decided in honor of my birthday, that the cats could have a special feast dinner tonight. We try to do this for them at least once a month. "Feast" is when we take a smaller scoop of their dry kibble and sprinkle it atop mashed wet cat food on a plate. Smells to high heaven, but they love it. The girls know the word, "feast" and chase us as we prepare it, Rose, spinning and twirling with excitement.

I called my parents to join us for dinner. They suggested a place we had not been before, Dan's in Boonsboro, Maryland. Dinner was lovely; our waitress' family is gluten-free so she was not perturbed at all by my asking her to check on ingredients in things. The menus were novel -- pages were printed on velum paper and placed over a lighted panel that illuminated when the menu is opened. George has decided to go gluten-free for two weeks to see if it helps his fatigue, so he got to experience my troubles of handicapped entree-hunting. Everybody ended up happy with their meals. I had loaded pub nachos, George has a Strawberry Chicken Salad, Mom had a Gorgonzola Pear Salad and Dad had a NY Strip steak. Service was excellent, but kitchen to table time was super slow, nearly an hour, but we weren't in a hurry, so it didn't matter.

After dinner, George took me to go "do something", which is what I had asked for as my gift. This could be anything from a hike to a movie to dancing lessons (hasn't happened yet, but I am not giving up hope, please, please please!) Tonight's fun was one of my most favorite activities -- mini golf. We are enthusiastic, but not frequent, mini-golf players. Games between us are friendly, but fierce and we are actually pretty good. Last night, we played the 24-hole course at the Family Recreation Park east of Hagerstown, Maryland. This place also has an 18-hole course, but we are cuckoo for putt putt and always play a longer course if we can. The bigger course is older and not well maintained. Some of the wooden sides have fallen apart and been replaced by bricks here and there. The pond was completely skimmed over with algae and only had one of the waterfalls working. There was litter in a number of places, but we had the course to ourselves -- George is a smart one! 

Well, the scorecard shows I won by one stroke! My dad thinks George let me win. I don't think so! I had one hole-in-one, George had 3. I was 10 strokes under par for the course, George was nine. Victory was mine! I did not gloat... too much. I had also asked for a banana split for my birthday "cake" since a cake is difficult. By the time we finished our golf game, every place was closed, so I got a rain check for another night this week. When we got home, George let me start reading his book, Wolf Wars, even though he is not quite done with it himself. (He knows I'll have it done by tomorrow anyway!)

All in all, it was a great day. I got to spend it with people that I love and that love me. I got to have a dinner and a fun evening. I am very lucky. 

My family will actually be celebrating this Saturday with a cookout at my sister's house in Baltimore for all our recent birthdays: George (July 6), my sister, Emily (August 18) and me (August 6). Let the good times roll on!