Birthday Week and Other Stuff
Sun., June 15, 12:37 PM
As I grow older, I seem to have, um, lower expectations about my birthday. It’s not that I have everything I could want. Oh, no! But the things I want most are nothing that anyone could give me.
My birthday spread itself out over nearly a week. I started receiving cards in the mail the weekend before. Especially nice was a greeting from my eldest niece, signed by the whole family, even her youngest.
My Son came by on Sunday, bringing me souvenirs from their trip to Bangkok. I love it, not only that they travel, but that they go out looking for places of interest. (My daughter-in-law is once again traveling on business.) Over Sunday and Monday, e-mails and comments on my page began to show up. How nice! It seems as if, each year, I receive a birthday wish from a stranger or two who end up being new reads for me. Every year I am surprised — because I forget they exist! — to receive E-cards. Thank you all!
Going out to celebrate is more of a problem because I will not leave Husband by himself for too long. I never know what he’ll get into. On my actual birthday, U.D. and I went out for an hour or so; he was napping. I had my nails done; they do look pretty. U.D. made me her “extra hearty” nachos for dinner; I neither had to cook nor clean up.
“Birthday lunches” happen on the days the Old Man is at adult day care. One day was with my M.D. and son-in-law. Another day I spent time with my old colleague V.
With greeting from some online connections (you sign up, they ask for your birthday), I was beginning to wonder whether the whole world knew… Well, not the whole world, I guess; the surveys used to know, back when I did them on paper. This one asked for the ages and genders of the people in my household, and had already put in mine (because I’m on their list already). I changed it because I had a birthday and was scolded: “You may not change information on this line!” Okay, jacki, you know my age better than I; no wonder your stats are often so skewed.
Bottom line? Good birthday week.
I thought that Hillary Clinton’s concession speech was good, gracious as we knew it would have to be. And I found myself thinking, how best will Mr. Obama make use of her executive abilities? I am not sure that making her the vice presidential candidate would be his best move, especially since I am sure that a large number of his votes came about as votes against Ms. Clinton. In addition, Hillary and Barack are not buddies, despite their mutual respect. I think that kind of relationship works better. Bill Clinton and Al Gore were buddies. Mr. Dubya and Mr. Cheney are friends, after a fashion. (D’ya s’pose one of them is snickering behind his hand?)
Hillary’s backing, however, is no mirage. She could make herself a force to be reckoned with in the Senate and help ensure that some of Barack’s promises actually are enacted into law. But Hillary has executive skills that also can be very useful to a president. What kind of an advisor might she make?
As Secretary of Health and Human Services, she might be able to focus on some of her own pet projects. For example, the universal health care system she wrote while her husband was president could very well be the basis for one of Barack’s promises. Another thought that crossed my mind may be more urgent. An agency badly in need of redevelopment is FEMA. It performed so badly during recent crises that a strong, intelligent director is sorely needed. Comments will be gladly accepted.
I did finish one blanket for my coming grandchild, and suddenly I realize there is a need for several others as well. A friend of U.D’s just had a little boy. Ms. P’s sister-in-law is expecting a month or so after her. (Ms. L will be delighted, as this will give her three grandchildren!) And the little girl I talked about at the end of this post is now the mother of a son! How could I possibly neglect that baby?
With the disastrous rise in the price of gasoline (I can remember when a gallon cost 30 cents!) and the difficulties facing the airlines, my old post about trains really begins to make sense, even if the rates go up. And in the newspaper this morning, I found this article about Amtrak. I always wanted to travel across the U.S. by train. I would love this! My they still be organizing such trips, when I manage to reduce the current constraints.
Finally, I need to say a word about pictures. When one sorts personal web pages into types, mine is usually the type that’s all text and no pictures. Outside of some cartoons, I seldom include any pictures at all. I never was much of a photographer.
Somehow, using my dad’s old box camera, my mother managed to take more photos of her baby (me) than I could imagine — at two weeks, three weeks, one month, two months, ad infinitum. I never was able to take a picture with that camera, because you had to hold it in front of you and look down into the tiny mirror to focus. I couldn’t hold my hands still, and I couldn’t see the outlines of the shot I had.
With a brownie kit my brother bought me, I took some mediocre pictures at college and on vacation. Husband liked to take pictures, and I experimented with his instamatic, trying to get a few good shots of my firstborn.
I had read that parents should always keep a loaded camera at hand, and I did indeed achieve a few really good pictures, including one of Son that made its way into the display window at a developer’s. (Sister has the actual photo, and maybe she sent a .jpg to Son; but I have no copy of that one.) As my children grew, they learned what a camera was for. Then, whenever I had a roll of film developed, I would find that most of the pictures were of stray cats and people’s feet!
Recently the M.D. found
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this old black-and-white, though I don’t know how come she had it. That’s me with Gramma at three months. Though the face is the same, I don’t think anyone will recognize me.
