A Day Unlike Other Days

I celebrated my 58th birthday a few days ago. As one gets older, birthdays are more and more just another day at work, albeit with a little special edge to it. This one was no different. It was one of those days where work was one meeting after another with a holiday party thrown in at the noon hour to make it just a little more upside down. The nice thing about the busyness was it made the day go by quickly.

But as I said, there were some things that made it special, like:

• Cupcakes from my wife for both the GIS staff and the County Christmas party. Everyone deserves cake (or pie) on their birthday. 
• A text from my daughter wishing me a happy birthday.
• A call from Ben in Madison, wishing me the same.
• When I got home a gift from Sarah awaited; a much-needed pair of slippers!
• Over 100 Facebook birthday wishes. There is much to hate about social media and Facebook in particular, but it does serve this purpose very well. I very much appreciate my Facebook friends and love scrolling through the many wishes.

Perhaps the best part of the day though was joining some good friends at a nearby Irish pub for a couple of beers. It was a spontaneous sort of thing, in celebration of both Donna and my birthdays and one I'm glad we followed through with. 

When we arrived, it turned out we walked into something called "Whiskey Club" where a group of whiskey aficionados was taste-testing multiple brands of Whiskey. They brought us about four half-shots before we could tell them that we were not part of the club!

Outside of the whiskey club interruption the rest of the couple hours we spent were good. We talked and laughed and speculated on what we were all going to do in retirement. It was really good to close out an otherwise average birthday with good friends. 

As every year passes, I appreciate the people in my life more and more. They keep me laughing and young at heart as we struggle to figure out this thing called life together. I hope to spend many more with them!

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