Saturday, October 26, 2013

Let's celebrate quietly............



It's nothing that important. It's just another birthday. 
Just an October day on the calendar. My mother was happy - 
she wanted a child very much. She had me on this day. 
My only sibling, my dear brother, came along eight 
long years later.
I was away on distant oceans for my last two birthdays - first 
sailing between the sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand and
Australia, then last year crossing the Adriatic Sea from 
Venice, Italy to Dubrovnik, Croatia.
This year I'm right here in my own back garden and, 
although not as exciting as adventuring on the high seas, 
it feels good to be at home with DH, family, good friends, 
and neighbors close by.


All birthdays make one stop and think a bit...reminisce...recall others such as the fun ones of childhood with cakes, candles, wishes and games. Being Autumn and usually wet in England, neighbor kids sloshed through soggy fallen leaves up the garden path, in wellies and mackintoshes, leaving them dripping at the back door. Everyday clothes, no party dresses. The typical English games were played, musical chairs and such. No fancy smancy parties in rented hotel ballrooms with girls in frilly dresses, embarrassed boys in suits, as some of my wealthier little friends had. Mine were always at our small bungalow with a few best friends crammed around the dining room table. We tucked into dainty cucumber, cheese and watercress finger sandwiches, made on thinly sliced Hovis brown bread, and white bread that was healthy in those days, and as always for party fare, the crusts were trimmed off and the garden birds shared the celebration. Colorful bowls of wobbly jelly and cream (jello here in the US), and Mum's beautiful home baked birthday cake, iced fresh that morning, and decorated with the correct number of candles, followed later.

Turning fifty was a big one, a half century and all that silly girlfriend stuff. Black balloons delivered to my office, a few drinks after work with co-workers who all seemed so much younger, and the feeling one was now well on the way to life as a senior citizen. Sixty, a little more traumatic, you actually were a senior citizen, with the AARP sending mountains of mail to your mailbox, driver's license renewal rules changing, plucking grey hairs, chin hairs......wondering why there seemed to be new wrinkles every morning in the mirror, and your eyes still looking tired after eight hours of rest.

But this one is monumental by comparison. Three score years and ten. Seventy sounds really old..........but old is better than the alternative! I can't believe I've reached this number but I'm certainly grateful that I have. There have been ups and downs along the way, issues such as most of us deal with in our younger years, some serious health problems to battle and survive, but so many wonderful things - far too many to even list here, but I assure you they happened and they still do.

So bring on 70 - there I've said it! Happy 70th birthday to me. I'm going to grasp it close and enjoy each day of my new seventies decade.............after all it's a long ten years 'til eighty and I'm not even going there today!


21 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday :) I hope it is an enjoyable day :)

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  2. A Senior at 60!!! You are in the wrong country!! In Australia you are not a Senior until 65.
    Happy Birthday and may there be many more to come. Yes, at 70 you are definitely more than halfway through your life, but not yet three-quarters.
    Those are never wrinkles, they are lines of love and experience.
    Life is interesting and you do not need some silly club to tell you to wear red hats and purple dresses. That is for the far-too-inhibited, not for the girl who travels the world.

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  3. I hope you had a lovely day Mary. Yes 70 is a big milestone now you can wear a red hat with no drawers and behave outrageously!!! You have my permission.

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  4. A very Happy Birthday Mary and many more of them.
    I love your header by the way- it's really lovely.

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  5. Happy 70th birthday to you - I must say that you do not look a day over 55. I love the way you have embraced your age and enjoy your life to the full. Have a wonderful day and a good year to follow.

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  6. Dear Mary, Happy 70th Birthday. I'm going to be 74 next month. We are not old. We are older. Think of all the wonderful memories. Don't dwell on the not so wonderful. If we are blessed with good health, then all the better. So, for your Birthday, I wish you many, many, many, many more years of good health and happiness and many more years of doing what you love to do most. ox, Gina

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  7. Happy birthday, sweet Mary! May you have many more and may they all be grand!

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  8. Happy Birthday dear Mary. Both David and I have October birthdays and we are one year behind you. Have a special day.

    Hugs, Penny

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  9. Happy Birthday Mary! You are the most youthful 70 year old I can imagine! I am sending you wished for a wonderful day, year, decade and life!
    xoxo
    Penny

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  10. A joy to behold - a woman embracing her age. I'm only a few short years behind you and I wonder at the life I've had. All of my family members - except me of course - died at age 52 - now isn't that splendid to contemplate on this far side of 52? I take each day as a joy and wonder what fabulousness may come with each dawn. So much to do - so many things to experience - so much joy. When my mother was 45 she seemed, sounded and acted like an old lady - and yet here I am - much older and still feel young inside (even if the outside sometimes complains). I hope your quiet day with family and friends is simply spectacular - spectacular in the way a common, wonderful day can be. Happy Birthday - let the new decade begin!!!

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  11. Happy, Happy Birthday, Mary. I love how you express your love of life and the way you embrace the age you're at now. I hope your day is filled with much joy and celebration, however quiet or loud.

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  12. Oh Mary, very well said! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! Age really is just a number. It's such a shame that it has to keep creeping up there. But as long as we have our health and joy in our heart, we are sure to stay young! My youngest turns 15 today. I made him chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast (vegan with a bit of pumpkin added for extra vitamins) :) He asked for an ice cream cake which we got from Baskin Robbins. And shawerma for dinner. That's it! He doesn't need a thing so why buy just for the sake of buying? Wishing you many more happy years and travels! Hugs and blessings, Tammy

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  13. Happy 70th! They say it is the new 50's, which I will embrace. Anyway, what other choice do we have. Now I am glad I am not the only 70 girl, I can share it with you. Enjoy your day and make it special for more than a day. Celebrate long, celebrate you. I loved the description of your girlhood birthday, so very special what mother's did for us.

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  14. Hello dear Mary, I agree with Tammt, such a happy fulfilling life you are leading, I follow your travels with such interest...enjoy this special day created just for you..happiness always and always!
    Xo

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  15. Lovely, lovely post Mary! A happy and blessed 70th birthday to you! I had no idea. I thought 65. :) My brother, sister and I were born between July 19 and 26, me the oldest in the middle on the 22nd. We often shared our parties and each had a friend or two over. My maiden Aunt Henri always made angel food cake for us with a lovely lemon frosting and coloured sprinkles on it. One thing that was a tradition here was to wrap coins in wax paper and place them in the cake before it was cooked. Someone would be lucky to get a silver dollar (or a quarter or nickel). I remember receiving silver dollars as gifts in a card too and I still have them tucked away. Enjoy your special day with your family and friends. And I wish you many blessings in the years to come. Love and hugs,
    Pamela

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  16. You are a very young seventy, Mary, and don't you forget it! ��

    Hope your birthday is as special as you are...
    Love...

    Barbie

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  17. Happy happy Birthday dear Mary!! I hope you enjoy many more. I love your attitude about age. I have to say I did not turn 60 gracefully. I was mad!

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  18. Many Happy Returns of the day, Mary, Hope you had a great day, and wishing you many great days in the years to come.
    Patricia.

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  19. I'm late (as usual) reading this dear Mary, but send you my very best wishes and hope you had a splendid day. 70 is only a number, it's how you feel that matters not your age. Wishing you many more 'numbers!'
    Lots of love
    Rose H
    xx

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  20. Well I thought I wrote a comment but cannot see any sign of it so will compose it again!!

    I am 7 years behind you( 63) but do not have as much energy or travelling behind me!!

    I hope you had a great day. I remember the Hovis sandwiches and the jelly and cream, seems to be burgers or pizza's nowadays!!

    We are preparing for the storm that is forecast for later today. It looks like your Devon and Cornwall have already had some of it. We have quite a mild afternoon in Surrey so far. We put the locks back an hour last night so it will be darker earlier tonight anyway!!

    Belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY, love Jackie in Surrey, UK.x

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