Happy Birthday to Me!

It's here...today is the day...no more days to go...January 8, 2008...I'm 50...I'm fifty...I'm five times 10 = 50...no more counting down...no more waiting...I've reached the milestone...so what do I want to say to myself today...yes...what do I want to say to myself on this special day...I think I'll just sing:

Happy Birthday to YOU,
Happy Birthday to YOU,
Happy Birthday dear JUDI,
Happy Birthday to YOU.

How old are you NOW?
How old are you NOW?
How old are you NOW?
How old are you NOW?

I am 50 years old,
I am 50 years old,
I am 50 years old,
I am 50 years old!

Now I get to spend the entire year celebrating. I already had my 50th birthday party...it was spectacular...and today I went to the spa for my massage...and my manicure...(I treated my daughter to a facial too...even though it wasn't her birthday...it was great to share a spa day with one of the most favorite people in my life)...and I'm getting ready to go out to my birthday dinner with my daughter and my son, the other favorite person in my life...The Cheesecake Factory...that's where we're going...and I'm going to have a BIG piece of CHEESECAKE to celebrate my birthday...and blow out another candle...maybe they will sing to me...I think I can handle a little more singing.

And the sun is shining...and I know that my other favorite person in my life...my late husband is looking down on me today...yes...he is looking down on me and wishing me a happy birthday...wish he could have been here to celebrate with me...but I know he is here in spirit.

I still have another 12 months to enjoy my 50th year...I still have to plan my trip to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in NYC...that was on my birthday list too...and my trip to an exciting European city that I haven't been to before...Provence...Provence...Provence...I want to go to Provence...where the lavender grows and grows.

I am 50. As Gail Sheehy says in her book Passages, in the roadmap of life I am now entering the "Refreshed (or Resigned) 50s...it's the best of life for those who release old roles and find a renewal of purpose"...and I'm ready...I believe what Gail says is true..."The courage to take new steps allows us to let go of each stage with its satisfactions and to find the fresh responses that will release the richness of the next. The power to animate all of life's seasons is a power that resides within us."

I am 50...yes...I am 50...let me open that Hallmark card...what did it say...what did it say...hmm...hmm...Hallmark always says it best...

Some birthdays are bigger than others -
Their memory sparkles and glows,
Their songs and their laughter
Will echo long after,
And this year
I have one of those.

Yes...this year I have one of those...happy birthday to me!

Judi

P.S. - To all my blog readers...a special 'thank you' for going on this year to 50 with me...for being by my side during my ups and downs...during my laughter and during my sorrow...while I think of myself as an ordinary woman...my countdown to 50 has been an extraordinary journey...and my life after 50 is going to be an extraordinary journey as well...stay tuned..the best is yet to come...I'll be back soon...after all...I did say writing was one of my new year's resolutions.

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