About two weeks ago, my personal odometer ticked over into a new decade, and your very irregular correspondent turned 60. It's an unreasonable age, an unfathomable age. I grew up with a father who died in 1979, in his mid 40s (I was 18, the eldest child) and on some level I assumed 45 was gonna be a good solid guess in terms of my lifespan. To this day, my regular subconscious shower exclamation is "I'm 40 years old" as if that fact alone was beyond belief. So here I am at 60 . . .
I blow hot and cold on the birthday thing. In previous year's I've gone dark around this time of year - removing the date from Facebook, turning off the ability to post on my timeline. After a few years of more openness, this year I returned to form, and my birthday flickered past relatively quietly on social media.
It was not an uneventful day, however. First, I spent the last day in my 50's at a CVS in West Hartford, getting my J&J COVID-19 vaccination. I can think of no better gift to myself. No serious side effects - a little tired, just the hint of a possible headache. I took my birthday off from teaching which was the right decision. I'm two weeks out, gonna wait another week or so to consider myself fully vax'd, but all good there.
On my birthday proper, I was awoken (literally, I was sleeping off the vax and the phone rang, inviting me to look out the window) by two friends who made the long trek into New Britain with mylar balloons, coffee, cupcakes. I went out in my PJs to fetch my booty and thanks them, but when I realized they were hanging out talking, I put my coat on and went out to visit. That was a lovely way to start the day.
I'm generally not a fan of mylar balloons, professionally or ecologically. I've seen way too many videos of mylar balloons causing power line arcs (power engineer YouTube porn) and pick up too much litter to not be invested in keeping balloons out of the ecology or the ocean. My "6" and "0" balloons are safely inside, still buoyant, and continuing to make me smile, attached to my banister and floating up into the unused space above the stairs (the only place they were not in the way in my too small condo). Rest assured they will stay out of trouble once their useful life is over.
Other highlights of the day - a zoom call with many friends. A tribute video with many more (organized by my morning visitors, who reeled in many old friends, new friends, and family members). Totally made me cry. An unexpected box contained a large plush Baby Yoda / Grogu; one of those things you don't know you want until you get it. At this point in life there are so few unexpectedly happy surprises - if I want something, I get it. So kudos to brother Kevin for nailing it. I think the only thing that might have beat it is a puppy.
Also several bouquets of flowers (one the day before, one the day of), lots of cards and gift cards (which I promise to use*), and the day after, a large bag of healthy food (entree, salad, soup, dessert) to nourish me for a few days.
I'm not someone who puts much stock in numbers - 40, 50, 60, all pretty much the same. On a warm summer morning, rolling across the state to chase a balloon with the windows open and 70s music via SiriusXM, I'm not too far removed from 18 year old me, with all my baggage but the universe ahead of me.
* So about the gift cards. I have some sort of weird thing about them - I rarely spend them, keep them nicely tucked away in a business card portfolio. Not really sure what that is all about.
Part of it is, I get myself what I need / want, so there's rarely something I'd buy myself if I had the funds. Part of that is some sort of hoarding, having struggled financially, there's a sense of putting them away for a rainy day. Part of that is being a lone wolf - I don't have a posse of folks I go out to dinner with so restaurant cards site waiting for a social moment that never arrives. Part of it is perhaps a feeling of unworthiness of the often generous gift, being unable to accept the love behind it. And part of that is that my retail grooves are pretty well worn, so even something like a Home Depot card (I go to Lowe's most often, in recent times) will sit unused until I consciously think of something I need. And for other things - stores I've never actually set foot in, well, it's a stretch to get me to use 'em.
