You say it's your birthday? Well it's my birthday too, man
Yeah, it is. It's midnight here at Helen Manor which means it's now December 23rd, my birthday. I'm getting to that age where birthdays don't really make me happy -- they tend to make me a bit blue. Not that I'm getting old. I mean I am, but it beats the alternative. But I get all guilt-ridden about not having done more to save the world and then all mopey because I have so little to show for my life. (And by "so little" I mean I'm the only one of my friends (and the oldest of my friends) to not own a house. That always upsets me when I think of it because it's the one thing I've always wanted.

But I also try to make birthday resolutions. Since mines so close to the end of the year I don't bother with New Year's resolutions. I just do ones for me, for the coming year. Nothing huge. No "I'm going to learn how to speak Chinese" or "I will train for a triathalon." Usually it's to do or try one thing I've always wanted to do/try but never have. It's to go someplace I've never been. And it's to make at least one new friend or to deepen a relationship with a casual buddy. I've manage all three.

This year I finally took the step towards working with animals, which I've always wanted to do. After a summer spent taking care of kittens I'm now a cat TLC volunteer and I love it. I went in today for nearly 3 hours and was so happy to be there, to help the kitties, to talk to people looking for a new pet an being able to point them to my favorites. It's a wonderful thing and I am getting so much personal satisfaction from it all. And I am so grateful to Husband for giving me this opportunity.

We also went to the New Academy of Sciences. OK, we were going to go on our cruise of a lifetime trip to Greece, Italy, and Turkey -- which would have been amazing. But I got sick and we cancelled. So we stayed close to home and walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and saw the beautiful new Academy. Not the Parthenon, but gorgeous nonetheless. It reinforces how lucky we are to live in this area where we have such gorgeous places to visit within an hour's drive. Half Moon Bay. Golden Gate Park. The zoo. It's a fabulous place to play and I loved going tourist in our backyard.

But the highlights of each year's goal is always the new friend. I think the wonderful surprise for this year is Mama D. Thanks to our bookgroup we've become closer to each other and every new interaction just knocks me sideways at how cool she is. She's a fabulous lady, a great mom, a wonderful friend and someone that I am grateful to have in my world. Which, of course, makes me think how grateful I am to have all my amazing friends. The Foreigner and The Lurker, Mama D and S de M, Finny and Bubba, the Colorado Contingent, The Belle of Belfast City and her handsome guys, my ex-hubfiend, and those at KZSU that are special to us. All of them/you enrich my life in ways you may not even know of. But you do. And I am daily grateful to you all for being there. Especially this year, when I needed lots of support, you always made me know I had people to lean on. Thanks to you all, for everything.

As for me, I'm planning on spending the day in bed. In my jammies. I want movies in bed. I want to read in bed. I want to nap in the afternoon with my cat curled up on the bed. I want dinner in bed. I may get out to take a decadently long, hot bath -- but then it's right back into bed. With an interlude for cake. But that's all I want. A day alone with Husband. He's been working crazy lately and I want some time together. Sounds like a perfect day.

Or maybe I'll treat myself and go into the shelter for a few hours and work with the cats. They're low on volunteers this week since people are traveling so they could probably use an extra hand. I think it would be a wonderful gift to myself to do something that makes me so happy. And then dinner in bed...