Sixty-three.

Six. Three. Sixty. Three. 63.

No matter how you type it, no matter how you say it... it's an odd number. Odd in the sense that today is my 63rd birthday... odder still that I feel the same way today as I did on my 36th birthday. So maybe that's the secret... invert the numbers.

Happy 36th sounds so much nicer and softer (and saner) than Happy 63rd.

But it is what it is.... no sense in denying the calender. But honestly, I can remember when I started my job at the Library... all those years ago, and I was in my late 20s, and most of the women I worked with were in their mid 50s. Mostly all of those co-workers have passed away now.... and here I sit and type, and I think of them all from time to time. Especially the ones I liked the best. Funny thing, that..... out of all the jobs I've ever had, it was my library position that stays with me all the time. I worked there for a much longer time (16 years) than at any of the other jobs I had... and the library was my career, not just a job. From part-time, to full-time, to supervisor... I loved it all, every last bit of it... even on the worst days, it was still where I wanted to be.

But today is today...... I've collected a pension from that library job... and I'm collecting Social Security. How in the world.....?  When someone tells you that time flies, believe them.  I look in the mirror and I still see me... I don't see a 63-yr-old woman.  I just see me. I'm hoping that all of the good genes from my aunts (my dad's sisters) have filtered into me... they were all very pretty women, well into their older ages. My Aunt Dolly will be 102 this year, and only since her 100th birthday has she really looked old. And only since turning 100 has she even felt old.

My husband and I celebrated my birthday the other day because he has to work today. I'll be celebrating this day with friends at lunch-time.  And tomorrow, we will celebrate my birthday again because Miss C will be driving up here for the day.  So for my 63rd, I'll be having three birthday-days in a row. Which doesn't sound bad at all.

Except for that number. 63. Ouch. I'd rather have the number 36. Can that be arranged?