Reasons to Celebrate

Remember when you looked forward to birthdays? Me neither. Still, like my dad always says, any day on the right side of the dirt is a good day. So, last week I faced another annual celebration with a positive attitude. And you know what? It worked. I spent the whole day celebrating another notch on the birthday belt. I reminded myself that a good friend of mine never got to see the birthday I was celebrating. That's when I started counting my blessings.

1. I'm relatively healthy. Apart from the ubiquitous arthritis and a recurrent bout of plantar fasciitis (which would probably go away if I was smart enough to quit playing tennis), I'm in good shape.
2. Both my parents are still around. With those kind of genes, I should make it long enough to see Paris Hilton become a grandmother.
3. A couple of years ago, I got to take my dream trip to Italy. I could have died happy after that but God decided he wanted me to see a few of the spots we missed. We're going back later this year.
4. I have a husband who loves me and two kids that can tolerate being in the same room with me. On my birthday, my son actually took me to dinner and didn't even bolt right after the last bite was eaten!
5. After years of threats, I actually wrote a novel. More importantly, I completed a first revision and am awaiting the arrival of an actual 252 page paperback with my name on it.
   

I could go on and on. Stopping to count your blessings has a way of putting everything in perspective. In fact, when I think about it, lots of wonderful things have happened in my fifties so edging closer to sixty doesn't scare me nearly as much it used to. As long as I keep learning; as long as I keep moving; as long as I keep trying to grow, getting older can't get me down. As far as I can see, there's only one bad thing about getting older. Those pests from AARP and the Scooter store. They, and their buddies at the Hearing Aid Center, just won't leave me alone. If I could find a way to get off their mailing lists, maybe l wouldn't think about getting older at all.