Wednesday, December 24, 2008
THE HOLIDAY
For some, the holiday looms ahead.
In our house, the holiday has already passed.
Yesterday was John's 70th birthday and it was a nicely orchestrated extravaganza.
No one actually orchestrated it but it had the aura of a performance nonetheless.
A parade of friends, FedEx men, postal workers, florist delivery people as well as phone calls came in a regular cadence. Flowers, gifts, messages of love. Even a bunch of balloons while we were having cake and ice cream. Talk about perfect timing!
Inside the house we had two best friends visiting to give a bit of human mass to the birthday dinner (roast beef and oven roast potatoes) as well as the cake and a lightly sung "happy birthday".
There were some neat gifts.
Good tidings.
This morning another beautiful tropical flower display. I wish the weather matched it.
Of course, I am just an observer but I think that he had a pretty good time. I think yesterday's events were unexpected, in a way, because the biggest event was his trip to Italy. This serial celebration was icing on the cake, so to speak.
I had a good time too. I get to smell the roses and play with the gifts!
I realized today that I have a husband who is 70 years old.
I told him recently that it had never occurred to me that I would end up married to a 70 year old man.
We think like that.
I never expected to be a 70 year old man myself. I must say that being one has been rather nice. Painless. An easing into the unexpected.
I think that most of us realize throughout our lives that we will continue to age and then die. This is just a superficial awareness. The actual experience comes as a, so far, gentle surprise.
So here we are. Two guys who made it this far and have so much more to see and do.
What a wonderful time of life!
