Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Today is my birthday, and it's one of those numbers that ends in a five, which always makes you think: 35. It helps to know that most of my friends are at least a year or more older than me, so I'm not venturing into unexplored territory.

I also happen to know that my dog, Una, is older than me. She'll turn 6 the end of October, which will make her 42 in dog years. Forty-two-year-old dogs apparently act slightly more mature than puppies.

It also helps that one of my friends, The Cheshire Cat, joked this past weekend that I was turning 18 or 19. Of course, the truth be known, I'm in as good or better shape as I was at 19, which I previously considered the apex of my attractiveness.

I feel pretty healthy lately, and I've got a great dog and a wonderful boyfriend. We all live together in a little row house in the Philadelphia area, which we just got fixed up enough for visitors.

The main reason people find birthdays so scary is because it's the time when you look back on your life so far and evaluate it. But a wise man once said you can't truly know if you're happy until reach the end of your life, because things that seem horrible at the time often turn out to be much better than you thought.

For example, when my various bad relationships over the years broke up. Yes, it hurt at the time, but it was all for the best, as I can see now, looking from the perspective of a healthy, supportive relationship. Or when I downsized a few years ago from the Museum, which had an office environment so poisonous it made the set of Desperate Housewives seem like The Andy Griffith Show.

Just because, right now, I haven't achieved everything I hope to in my life doesn't mean I won't in the future, or that those goals might not change.

Even over the last year, things have improved. For example, I now have more permanent work assignments, meaning that even without overloading myself with extra work, I can bring in a decent paycheck. And of course, back in May, I moved out of the cluttered apartment with the wet basement into a nice place with The Gryphon, which we've vowed to keep nice.

Since last year, I've lost another 25 pounds and hope to reach my goal soon of losing another 15.

And life continues to be entertaining. Only this morning I met a woman who gushed over how cute Una was but then showed no interest in petting her when Una tried to say hello. Then she confessed she'd once had a cat that terrified her so much she had to get rid of it. Apparently, it used to jump on the chair she was in and scare her.

Despite the fact that both her husband and the vet assured her that kittens are playful and like to jump around, she insisted on getting rid of her feline tormentor.

Today is clear and warm, bright and sunny, in the 80s. Cicadas whirring, my dog smiling, neighbors calling greetings. It's a good day to be 35.

More birthday thoughts:

September 9, 2004 - Happy Birthday to Me

September 8, 2003 - Birthday Girl

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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