Me At 46

"46.  Am I really that old?  Is 46 old?  It's my birthday.  Should I be happy or sad?  Why am I up?  It's 4:15 a.m. on a Saturday.  It's still dark!  Why do I have a cold?  It's June!  It's practically Summer!  Who gets a cold in the Summer?  Is it really 4:15 a.m.?  I feel awful.  Who gets sick on their birthday?  Am I really 46?  Should I get up?  Can I get back to sleep?  Why is my brain working so much this early?  Go back to bed, you dummy!"

And then I got up.  These are the thoughts that were going through my head this morning as I started off the day.

After a bowl of cereal, a glass of OJ, and a cup of coffee, along with a few sit-coms on ME TV, I started paying my bills for the month.  I started some laundry, too, and then the first of 60+ messages began trickling in from so many family and friends wishing me a happy birthday.  How cool is that?

Soon, Melody woke up, and I decided to shower and get dressed.  We made plans to have lunch with Mom & Dad at Houlihan's, since I have a free meal coupon from them.

We were soon on our way, and we had a really nice afternoon with my parents.  They treated for lunch, and gave me a bag full of gifts.  Then we went to my favorite bookstore, Daedalus Books, and I found three books that looked very interesting.  We said goodbye to Mom & Dad, then we went home to take care of Faithful Pup Scout.  Then we were back out again to church, at Grace Community.

Pastor Rich gave us a fine message about suffering for our faith.  It was timely, and relevant for me.  Then Melody had her intro to Middle High with a welcome to 6th grade party.  I read a prepared letter I wrote for her, as did all of the parents for their kids.  We had pizza, too!  It was a nice time.

Afterwards, it was still light outside even at 8 p.m.  We decided to look for some ice cream.  I was craving a milkshake.  Since it was still my birthday, I decided that a milkshake was what I wanted, but it would have to be made with sugar free ice cream.  That became an issue.  We stopped at four different places without any luck.  No one seems to have sugar free ice cream!  We went to two Baskin Robbins, a Maggie Moos, and Tutti Frutti.  Nobody has sugar free ice cream.  Melody got some ice cream from Maggie Moos, and then we went home.  It was now well after 9 p.m.

We watched a bit of TV and I enjoyed the last few hours of my birthday.  God has taken such good care of me.  I had a wonderful day, I have a fantastic daughter, a great family, and I'm happy, even if I don't always act like it.  What a great day.

Lord, thank you for another year of life.  Thank you for my wonderful life.  And now, after being up for 19 out of the 24 hours in today, I'm going to bed.  46 is too old to be up this late.

Special thanks to all of my friends and family who wished me a happy birthday on Facebook: Karen, Darren, Mandy, Erica, Bob, Steven, Nancy, Mitzi, Mary Lou, Nancy, Dale, Sharon, Sheryl, Christy, Lois, Sandy, Jeff, Rose, Brian, Rich, Donna, Pam, Charlie, David, Lynda, Connie, Ruth, Alan, Loren, Colleen, Terri, Elizabeth, Dawn, Joanne, Rick, Sebastian, Gwynn, Nancy, Linda, Eliot, Jennifer, Joe, Elizabeth, JJ, Scott, Sandi, Jon, Richard, Vicki, Bonnie, Lea, Allison, Ian, Kimberly, Marc, Jennifer, Scott, Bob, Debby, John, Anna, Eva, Mark, Kristen, Becky, Becky, Lisa, George, Gisela, Diana, and Tom.