Thankfulness – Day Nineteen

Today is my birthday. My thirty-fifteenth birthday. Or, as Todd put it, the 15th anniversary of my 30th birthday. Whatever. I’m 45 today and I’m okay with it.

I could get all Hallmark Cardesque and say something like, “I’m thankful for the gray hairs because each one is a symbol of the wisdom I’ve gained over the years,” or “I’m thankful for the wrinkles on my face because they are a testament to a life well lived,” but I don’t really see it that way. I do whatever I can to minimize the wrinkles and cover the gray. Vain? Maybe, though I like to think of it as my way of keeping myself humble as opposed to bragging about my wisdom and life well lived. Know what I mean?

My first thankfulness is for my dog-walking, singing neighbors. They would be the street walkers that I wrote about in THIS post .  Sheri, Cathy, Laura, Karen & John stopped outside my house to sing Happy Birthday to me this morning after their kids got on the bus. Of course, I wasn’t dressed when they stopped by. Todd answered the door and yelled for me to come down, wherein I yelled back, “I’m nekkid!” He yelled back, “So what! Come down here!” Lucky for the neighbors I have a nice pink robe.

I have to say that it was a great way to start my day.

My second thankfulness is for my Women’s Bible Study group. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time at all you already know how I feel about them. I can be in the worst mood ever and a morning hanging with the Homies is all it takes. Of course, I was in a great mood due to the singing street walkers, but the mood didn’t wane as the morning progressed. Tina brought a delicious chocolate cake for both Leanne (her birthday was Sunday) and me and for the second time in less than an hour I was serenaded again. I have to say the street walkers sounded a little better because Half the Homies sang, “Happy birthday, Leanne and Jen” and the other half sang “Happy birthday, Jen and Leanne” and it sort of messed up the musical mojo, but it was still lovely!

My third thankfulness is for all the people who wished me a happy birthday on Facebook. As Yoda would say, “Totally overwhelmed was I.” The really cool thing about Facebook is that I received happy birthday wishes from childhood and high school friends, from aunts and cousins and sisters who are scattered all over the country, from California peeps, Arkansas peeps, Pennsylvania peeps and peeps from various other places.

The family birthday dinner has been postponed until tomorrow after we PICK UP TAYLOR AT THE TRAIN STATION!!!!!  Can you guess what my thankfulness will be tomorrow?