Thoughts on the Eve of my Next Year of Life

Yes, tomorrow is my birthday.

I am ending my 66th year of life and beginning my 67th.

My life has been an interesting journey,

and I have no doubt that the twists and turns my life has taken will continue.

Truly,

there is never a dull moment.

1) Whenever I have said, "Never," I have found myself in Neverland.

After a trip to Chicago, when I was in college, a child of the southwest,

a friend and I took a class trip, and we both said, 

"I'll never live here."

She lived there 5 years, and I lived in Chicago 10.

Now, I don't dare say "Never!"

2) When you're from a region that is multicultural and diverse, full of the arts, and you move to an extremely conservative part of the US, let's just say, northern and very, very cold, with the state initials of ND, you learn what real cold is all about.  You learn what closed minds are all about.  

You learn how much more open and vibrant the southwest is...which is what gets you through the winters in another area of the country where you said, "Never," Minnesota.  I never dreamed I'd live here, much less, 26 years of my life.  At least in the bigger cities here, you find an openness to diversity that you cannot find in other areas of the midwest.  I've gotten used to Minnesota, and there is Minnesota Nice.  People do try to be nice here.

3)  Oddly enough, my feet have grown.  When I first got married, my shoe size was either 7 or 7 1/2.  Now I wear 8 1/2 - 9 1/2.  I can't figure that one out!

4) I was blessed with two wonderful children!  Thank God for that!  They are my lifeline!  I was incredibly blessed with children who have become magnificent adults!  What could be better than that!

5) I dyed my hair pink a year and a half ago, and it was one of the best things I ever did for myself!  I thought I had forgotten to have fun, but I learned that with pink hair, in spite of the stares, you can have a lot of fun.  My feeling is that if people don't like it, they don't have to look.  That's part of the lack of diversity.  Oh, well.  I love my hair!

I don't know at which hour I was born, but, in the end, it doesn't matter.

I have already lived more than I will live.

I have spent a lot of time having fun.

I used to think I had no regrets, but I am finding now, I do.

There are some things you can never change, and that's ok.

There are many things you can change, and they will impact you or someone else, 

and that's not bad.

I don't know how many more days, weeks, hours, minutes, seconds or years I will live, but I plan to fill those times with great joy and as much fun as I can have.

I hope to leave the world a little bit better than when I arrived.

So, tonight as I sleep, my birthday will arrive.

I hope to sleep well.

Blessings to you and yours.