55 & 1/365

For no particular reason, I never managed to post anything at all on my birthday, and now it's 37 minutes past that date. Oh, well... I'm now 55 years and one day old.

Birthdays are odd occasions for me; I rarely celebrate them on the day itself, and it's rare that anyone other than Susan and Kim and Aunt Jean ever wish me a happy birthday on the actual day of my birthday. Saturday, we went up to Rome to see the old Marchmont House, which Cole and Christy have reshaped into a wonderful home for the two of them and Oliver (and soon, for a new addition to the family, gender as yet unknown); it's amazing to see what they've done to the kitchen, renovating it and making it into a showpiece. They remarked on how much more they had than would comfortably fit into the house, even with the two storage buildings, the large den that was added on to the back in the 1980s, and the large screened in porch. It still seems remarkable that Mom, Dad, Kim, and I lived comfortably in the home sans all those additions back in the 1962-1971 period; it just goes to show how much more stuff comprises our daily existence now, I guess. I can't imagine how we possibly fit four people and all of our stuff into that 1000 square foot home...

But I digress...

The birthday get-together was great fun; it was good to see Cole, Christy, Oliver, Jessica, Adam, Kim, and Phil (who has added a full beard since I saw him last!), and it was nostalgic to celebrate my birthday in the house where I celebrated so many birthdays in the past. When we got back home, Brett and Allyson dropped by with a surprise birthday gift--specialty popcorn from a Marietta shop whose existence was unknown to me!

Today was a normal workday for me--a busy day with a huge comics shipment that also happened to be the rainiest day we've had all year, making the whole book pickup process a little more demanding. Kim called very early, and Aunt Jean called soon after that, both wishing me a happy birthday; I got a few very nice e-mails from correspondents wishing me a happy birthday, and that was it.

Susan gave me a gift that I always love--chocolate oatmeal drops, a sort of no-bake cookie that's a lot like crumbly cocoa fudge with uncooked oatmeal added to it. I always loved those as a child, and Susan makes 'em to my demanding specifications... sort of crumbly, very dark with extra cocoa powder, and lots of oatmeal. It's my favorite cookie.

Susan was also willing to get me a coconut cake, since I've mentioned in my blog on multiple occasions how much I miss those--but I didn't want her to have to make something else, and I'll be snacking on these cookies for a while (plus we still have some nifty Superman-Batman-decorated birthday cake left over from the gathering in Rome!). Still, I hope to some day celebrate my birthday with another rich, sweet, coconut-laden extra-moist cake... oddly enough, I haven't had a coconut cake at all since Mom died, and sometime I find myself positively yearning for a slice or two. Anyone who says I'm hard to shop for, just add coconut cake to your list of things I like!...

No other mention of birthdays today--it's not surprising, really, since I don't make a big deal of it. It would never occur to me to drop lots of hints that my birthday is coming up, because every day is someone's birthday, after all, and there's no reason to make a big deal out of it.

So now my 55th birthday is history, and I'm underway on my 56th. I'm on the 3064th day of my second chance at life. I'm relatively healthy, quite happy, blessed in many ways, and doing things that I enjoy--what more could one ask for from a birthday than that?