It's My Birthday
Monday, Nov. 03, 2003, 1:05 a.m.

QUESTION: Where do the years go?

WHAT I LEARNED: It's only a matter of time before AARP will find you.

It is now officially my birthday. I have no idea how I got this old. I feel like I am still 25 only better somehow - smarter and braver and much more my own girl than when I was at that earlier wondrous mid-20s period of my life. I have spent the weekend cleaning and that was strangely invigorating. It became a bit of a family endeavor. We all felt the better for it. I understand the draw of spring-cleaning a bit better now. I'm a little late considering it's now November but I think the concept still works.

I started with my office a week or so ago. Now I am expanding to the family room. It's slow work but I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the floor beneath the stacks of papers, and the potential in these familiar spaces. I am having fun and that surprises me. The best part is that as I go through my files and stacks and corners, I find things I had forgotten all about. Like a prospector panning for gold, I sift through my stuff and find trash and treasure and both are worthwhile. The trash I need to find in order to divest myself of it. The treasure is the reward for sifting through the stuff that we all accumulate in life that needs going through.

With my son's help I got a corner of the family room that was a bit overgrown with the tangled weeds of life cleaned out - bins of papers, exercise equipment, old games and toys of the kids that I just couldn't bring myself to part with - it's all there. The reward for this works is access to my Kurzweil keyboard - a real professional quality keyboard that does everything but play the piece for you. Tonight I played J. S. Bach's Two-Part Invention # 1 - or at least part of it - on the Kurzweil kicking it into harpsichord. I also spent some time playing Vince Guaraldi's Christmas Time is Here with a piano/string type sound - talk about instant relaxation.

So this weekend was symbolic - a clean sweep of sorts and a new year for me specifically as a resident on this planet.

I plan to have a very happy birthday by merit of the simple fact that I am alive to celebrate it with family and friends. I plan to do so with Chinese carryout, a great movie, and a Carvel ice-cream cake tonight after work.

Here's looking at you kids. God bless you every one!

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