A Sweet And Peaceful Birthday With Time And Space To Think And Be Grateful

Okay. Before we go one more minute, I have to do something that I told Maggie I had already done which was a lie but I somehow thought I HAD done it and now I am correcting the situation.

Or DID I post this picture already? Well, whatever.
That is a picture of Ms. Magnolia June in her mermaid tail in Mr. Gary's and Miss Melissa's pool. Mr. Gary and Miss Melissa are Lauren's parents. 

It turned out that Lily and her family got back late last night and so were able to meet us for lunch today and Maggie wanted to make sure I had seen this picture. I assured her that I had and that I loved it. She then asked if I'd posted it on my blog and, thinking I had, I told her yes. "What did people think about it?" She asked. 
"They loved it too!" 
As Andy Griffith used to say, "Oh, what a wicked web we weave when first we practice to deceive."

He did not lie. 
Unlike me. 
So, please, if you happen to love that picture, let me know and I can feel less untruthful than I really am. 

I have had a great birthday! It's been extremely laid back and also, at the same time, celebratory. It was so nice to get to see and hug all of my children and grandchildren except for the Jessie/Vergil family. We all met at a Cuban restaurant I like very much. May and Michael were there. Hank was all by himself as Rachel is in Boston visiting her best friend from childhood who had a baby five months ago. She is in heaven. Rachel, that is. In all the pictures she's sent of her holding that sweet little boy she is absolutely radiating with happiness. She's been looking forward to this for a long time. 

Lily and Lauren were there and of course, Owen, Gibson, and the aforementioned Magnolia June. So many great hugs! 

It took a while for all of us to order and get our food. In fact, by the time the food hit the table, Hank had to have it packed up to take home because his lunch break was over. But we got to see him for a fairly good visit. We got to hear all about the trip Lily's family had been on and the fun they'd had. It always sounds like a good time at Mr. Gary's and Miss Melissa's. 
Goats are always involved and we all know that goats are just about the most fun barnyard animals ever.

I got to catch up with May and Michael and Hank, too, of course. Owen and I had a good conversation about things we've been watching and also books. He's not much of a reader these days but he knows I am, and that sweet man-boy gifts me with allowing me to discuss my reading. He is just so big now. I mean...BIG! Gibson is sprouting up at an unreasonable rate too, and Maggie? I feel certain she'll be taller than me by the time she graduates elementary school. 

Here's what we all looked like (except for Hank) after we finished lunch and were about to leave.

A sweet lady in the restaurant saw us taking pictures and came out and offered to take a picture with all of us in it. I think she did a good job! 

I took this one. 

That is actually the picture I got AFTER the one where they all posed. I always think the after picture is the best one. My friend Kathleen would always command whoever she was taking a picture of to, "Say Tiny Penis!" and now I always say, "Say Tiny...Peanuts," which cracks the adults up because they know from whence that saying came and the kids laugh because it's just so random and funny although I think that Owen gets it now. 

After lunch I went to Publix and while there, I bought myself some presents. I got two plants which I do not need in the least (and they were not even on sale!), two new teal-colored dishcloths, and two packages of cheesecloth to make more of the fantastic multi-purpose, absorbent, soft, uh, hemmed rags? which I am obsessed with. 
I have no idea why. These things just happen.

Here are the plants!

I actually have a container that I think I'll put the snake plant in and as for the Pink Princess Philodendron, I'll find something when it needs more leg room. 

Mr. Moon left before dawn this morning with his container of chili and foil-wrapped corn bread, pineapple, blueberries, cherries, and I do not know what all. His pillow and blanket for sure. He's sent me pictures of the new faucet he put in the kitchen sink and the new toilet that replaced the one upstairs. Luckily, one of the 12-year olds, as he called them, who came to put in the internet, helped him get it up those stairs. 

Thank god because if he hadn't, the man would have somehow wrangled it up there by himself because it was on his list and the list must be followed in all of its sacred, perceived to-do's. He is also planning on installing the new appliances this week which include a stove and a dishwasher. Have I picked out one of these things? 
No I have not. I could have. He probably would have loved it if I had but I am being all "I don't care" about it. I hope that by the time I start using the kitchen I don't find that I wish I had cared. 

Sigh.
One of the kids asked me today when he'd be back. "Probably when the chili runs out," I said. 

And this is true. 
He is living his dream and I love him. 

Anyway, so yes. This has been my seventy-first birthday and it has suited me just fine. My darling friend from the sixth grade called me and we talked for about an hour and a half this afternoon. I always love these long chats we have and how gratifying it is to have such a long-time friend with whom I can pick up right where we left off the last time we talked and make each other laugh and ask the tough questions like, "How did we get this old?" and "Can you believe we made it to this age?" 
When we were younger, this woman and I, we were a bit wild and had friends who were happy to encourage us in wildnesses that we had not even thought of. Both of us agree that there are things we will NEVER tell our children, just as there are things, we are sure, that we NEVER want our children to tell us, but here we are, still alive, having survived not only our teenaged years but also life in general with all the things life on this planet will throw at you. She is about to have be married for fifty years, me for forty-one. We have grandchildren older than we were when we met. 

So much has changed. 
Nothing has changed. 

I think that sums up pretty well what aging is like. 

I feel very, very, very lucky. I feel very, very, very grateful for all the years behind me and being able to remember at least some of them! And curious to know what comes next. I hope it involves as much love as I have felt today. 

I heard Hawk a little while ago. Or at least a hawk. I did not see him. Or her. But I'm going to take it as a birthday acknowledgement which of course it is not, but I'm going to tuck that in my heart anyway. 

Love...Ms. Moon

P.S. Satan's pie turned out to be about as delicious a pie as either Mr. Moon or I ever tasted. Let's hear it for whipped cream which even Satan's coals cannot defeat.