To start on a strictly materialistic note, the best thing about having a birthday two days after Christmas is that I can ask my husband for an expensive Christmas gift and not feel guilty about it because I can justify it with “it can be for Christmas and my birthday.” Haha!

Much deliberation went down before I finally pulled the trigger and told Callaghan that I wanted a Kindle for Christmas/my birthday… a material request toward my minimalism efforts. I’ll keep the paper books I already have, but I won’t purchase any new ones. That’s the plan, anyway. We’ll see how it goes. As for the sudden appearance of the lighted water fountain Buddha statue in my office, that’s entirely the fault of my friend Jessica. We were at the mall the other day shopping for lingerie (long story), and she told me that she saw the Buddha.

Callaghan got involved, and now the Buddha is here amongst my plants.

So I’m 50 today! I’m knocking on wood as I laugh all the way to the bank of life, because I’ve managed to survive for half a damn century, and I don’t take that for granted. It’s inexplicable, really, as far as I’m concerned. I’m so very grateful.

Some quick thoughts about my shiny new decade:

1). If you’re not 50 yet, I am your elder.

2). “Elder” has always been one of my favorite words.

3). Being a 1st-generation gothling, I’m now an eldergoth.

4). I’m thrilled to have joined my friends already in their 50’s!

5). Still not wearing granny panties.

6). Still haven’t had anything “done.”

7). A mortuary person literally knocked on my door this last year hoping to sell me a cemetery plot. Yesterday, the mortuary called and left a message. Let’s set up a time to plan your estate, he said. My estate? My estate is a desert tortoise, and we have no idea to whom he’ll be bequeathed. I’m not ready to sit down with a mortuary person to discuss the matter of Geronimo’s future, so it’s not going to happen for a while.

8).  I’ve leveled-up into a creative realm I never knew I could reach, and it’s glorious.

9). To round off the list on a sort of side-note: it’s felt strange to be – for the first time ever – older than the First Lady of the United States, but it feels even stranger now that I’m in a decade that starts with a “5” and she’s still in her 40’s. The psychological significance of moving into a new decade is real.

[May I add that the idea of being younger than I am now and married to the current president is just…. To each their own, as the saying goes.]

I stepped outside today to take a sunlit selfie:

 

…and quickly. My parents are in town, and it’s been eventful, to say the least! I’m practically running out the door as I write this, so I’ll catch you lovely readers on the flip side.