Happy Birthday to Me

76 and amazed how well I feel. Still fraying around the edges, but my core is holding. So where am I, where am I going? Not waxing philosophically. 

Too much to do, both short term (pumpkin pies to bake today plus I want to work in the yard, and I’d really like to paint, but that’s not possible with grandchildren around, which I wouldn’t trade for a second) and long term (although we are slowing down, I still want to spend a month or more in Europe, especially France and Italy. And Spain. And England, plus we really should drive around our Southwest.)

As ever, I am shedding stuff but not as far along as I’d like. More and more, things mean less and less to me. For example, Windermere Garden Club is fundraising by collecting broken gold and silver jewelry to be traded in for cash. I am going to donate single earrings whose mate is irretrievably lost. I’d hoped to have them made into something. Now I know what it is: a donation.

The pictures and other nostalgia still loom, and the scanner I bought remains untouched. After Christmas I will begin that project. Or not.

In the last year, 3 elderly neighbors have sold their homes. I felt like a vulture at the 2 estate sales, seeing their lives put on display. But not so much I don’t go. At Vincent’s, a retired Disney caricaturist, I bought the only painting by him hanging on his walls. With all of the other art he displayed and all of his drawings in file cabinets, I will always wonder why just this one. At Mimi’s I bought a flamingo soap dish, or maybe it’s an ashtray. She had collections of Hot Wheels, 50’s movie start photos, and Disney memorabilia, all being pawed through. In any case, the sales are reminders of how our stuff is treated when we die. Yes, I will go to the 3rd sale when it happens. Eventually, it will be my turn. I hope there is very little to be sold.

I have begun shedding paper. Everything is online. No need to keep medical records or warranties. This week, I’ll consolidate our banking to just Fidelity, who can take over for a fee when I decide I just can’t manage our money anymore. We are going to review which credit cards to keep. Do we need one for every single airline just to avoid checked bag fees?

It’s not all subtracting. I’m buying more watercolor classes. And more help. Although I am daunted by the thought, I am hiring housecleaning. Grant isn’t keeping up with the dust or dirt we are creating. I certainly am not going to. This is solvable. 

The same for the yard. I have Jonathan for mowing, and CC for supervised maintenance. I just tried Victor from My Dragonfly Garden who is hellacious expensive but very knowledgeable, to trim the wild lime and have his ace assistant clear out a buffer along the swale. I may have them come every month for higher level pruning. 

The more I put on automatic, the more I can do only what I want. Yes, an absolute luxury.

My day began with breakfast at the Dixie Cream Cafe with Nancy who turned 82 today. We started with pumpkin spice lattes. I had my usual 2 scrambled eggs, home fries, and biscuit; eating half and taking the rest home for lunch. Nancy continued the pumpkin theme, with a pumpkin pancake and pumpkin spiced butter. So nice to have found another birthday buddy. The couple sitting next to us paid for our breakfasts. According to our waitress, they eat breakfast there every Wednesday. On my calendar for us to join them next week. An opportunity to meet new friends.

A lovely birthday dinner with children and grandchildren. Grant made taco rice, I made corn bake with Jiffy muffin mix, and Steph baked an apple cake with cream cheese frosting decorated with gold powder. Clara claimed deciding the cake flavor.