Another year down and a new one ahead of me.
Each birthday is unique: 72 is not the new 52. It's not even the new 71. My 72 comes today and, as always, I feel it to be special. Not because it's mine, or because I want a fuss (though Ed, can you maybe make a tiny bit of one, even though I know you think birthdays are silly?), not because I want to celebrate, but because I have always used this moment to revel in the fact that I am still on this planet and to think about what comes next for me, for my beloveds, for everyone and every place where I can have some influence.
My meditative April 21st!
I can always expect full blown spring to have arrived by now and this year as every year, it has, with the caveat that today is... on the cool side. Jacket weather.
(walk to barn)
(Tuxie, our stunning cat, waits)
(breakfast: I'll allow myself a selfie for today. As a marker of being freshly 72.)
On your birthday, if you are lucky, you get to hear from people you love. And I do. Zooms, calls, texts, emails. And it's grand. This, I feel is a benefit to an already special day.
Then, despite the cold and the clouds, I go out and put in some more plants. Lilium bulbs. Two perennials I'd never tried before (an Agastache and a new Geum). And a bunch of annuals for the pots. It's what I do! And it is grand!
In the early evening I meet up with my daughter and the big two for a mini celebration. This has become somewhat of a tradition -- a time for just us, whomever is around for that "us!" (My younger girl will have her own time and place down the pike.) We go to Cooper's Hawk, chosen as much for its location -- a good jump off for Snwodrop's ballet after and my later date with Ed -- as for its essentials -- a place for a calm moment and celebratory something. (Prosecco for me!)
The kids are very much involved with the gift selection and this year, Sandpiper thought I should get something big to hug when needed. Fluffy and soft. Totally appropriate!
If Ed tends to underplay birthdays, my girls are the opposite -- they give them all they've got!
From there, I pick up Ed, who is feeling "much better," and we go to Naples 15. This is a place chosen entirely by him and it's one none of us have ever heard of, despite the fact that on their website, they announce that they once hosted Tony Bennett.
I have to hand it to Ed -- finding a place that has food and I would like (I dont want heavy, he doesn't want fussy), on a Monday, is not easy, but his random search was good! Old world Italian. Not fussy. And very tasty. With a smug grin he hands over a card. Yeah, he knows me well.
The day ends too quickly. It's always like that: on the one hand, it's like all other spring days -- loads of garden work, exchanges with those close to me. And yet, well, to me April 21st is one of those good markers of time.
with so much love...
