Birthday Gratitude

Today is my birthday.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for my parents who launched me into life (and refrained from - as Bill Cosby said - "taking me out of it" at my worst moments), my fabulous birthday-conscious siblings, my truly amazing husband and children, and for my brilliant, loving and loyal friends.

I'm also deeply and surprisingly grateful for that Facebook feature that lets everyone see that it's your birthday. Thanks to folks from nearly every decade of my life for weighing in with good wishes.

Getting older is not for sissies, the old adage goes, and certainly health challenges are on the increase. From the high vantage point of a beautiful 75-degree day in Colorado, it appears to me that longevity's payoff in loving relationships more than balances out the impairments of aging. Note: I really wanted to write "loving relationships and WISDOM" in the previous sentence, but I just cannot use the word wisdom in reference to myself. Maybe by the next birthday . . . or in twenty years.