It is a bit frightening turning 55 today. I guess, in some ways I never thought I’d be this old. The strangest part is that I do not feel any older – it’s like the 21 year old I was is locked in the 55 year old body (which fortunately, is holding up pretty well). The good side of that feeling is that as long as one doesn’t think of them self as being old and stays mentally young, you in fact tend not to age as quickly. So I have to stay young thinking in my outlook. I need only look at my 90+ year old aunt, who has always been too busy to get old, to see that it truly makes a difference.
In honor of the ELCA’s last minute resolution yesterday at the Churchwide Assembly (see yesterday’s post), I went to church today at First Lutheran. Everyone is always nice and pretty much everyone knows that I am gay. My pastor - who is a former bishop - was pleased with the resolution and knows of a number of bishops who are already following the dictates of the resolution. At church, I also ran into one of my friends from my teenage years up at the lake house in the Adirondacks who had her birthday yesterday and tied one on like we did in the old days. We gave her great grief about wearing sunglasses through part of the church service due to her hang over. We always have a good laugh when we get together and her kids know I have “dirt” on their mother from our summers at the lake.
Happily, I received a birthday wish call from my two daughters waiting on my voice mail after church. They sang "Happy Birthday" and were very wam and bubbly in the long message. When I called back, my older daughter had already headed out to the pool where she is the head coach for the swim team, but I did get to talk some with my youngest. Hopefully, my son will call me later. Hearing from them was the best gift I could receive. I also heard from Raymond who sent me birthday wishes. We have been apart now for almost a month. I still care for him deeply and always will whether or not he believes it. Tonight, a couple of my friends are taking me out to dinner which will be nice.
The rest of the day I intend to chill and take it easy. Tomorrow, I am one of two speakers at an all day seminar on real estate transactions. Yes, I get continuing legal education credit for doing the seminar and preparing my part of the materials, but I still plead temporary insanity when I agreed to do it about 4 months back!
In honor of the ELCA’s last minute resolution yesterday at the Churchwide Assembly (see yesterday’s post), I went to church today at First Lutheran. Everyone is always nice and pretty much everyone knows that I am gay. My pastor - who is a former bishop - was pleased with the resolution and knows of a number of bishops who are already following the dictates of the resolution. At church, I also ran into one of my friends from my teenage years up at the lake house in the Adirondacks who had her birthday yesterday and tied one on like we did in the old days. We gave her great grief about wearing sunglasses through part of the church service due to her hang over. We always have a good laugh when we get together and her kids know I have “dirt” on their mother from our summers at the lake.
Happily, I received a birthday wish call from my two daughters waiting on my voice mail after church. They sang "Happy Birthday" and were very wam and bubbly in the long message. When I called back, my older daughter had already headed out to the pool where she is the head coach for the swim team, but I did get to talk some with my youngest. Hopefully, my son will call me later. Hearing from them was the best gift I could receive. I also heard from Raymond who sent me birthday wishes. We have been apart now for almost a month. I still care for him deeply and always will whether or not he believes it. Tonight, a couple of my friends are taking me out to dinner which will be nice.
The rest of the day I intend to chill and take it easy. Tomorrow, I am one of two speakers at an all day seminar on real estate transactions. Yes, I get continuing legal education credit for doing the seminar and preparing my part of the materials, but I still plead temporary insanity when I agreed to do it about 4 months back!
3 comments:
Happy (belated) birthday!
Michael, I do hope you had a great birthday. You have been a blessing to me and many readers. 55 is more like a new start. I think this year (as it has for me) has been a transitional year. I think you have so much to offer and your youthful attitude keeps me going.
Happy belated birthday!
I hope you had a wonderful evening and wishes for a stupendous year.
55 is a great number.... I remember it well!
DON~
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