Birthday Blues...

Tomorrow I turn another year older and I am thankful it's not one of those birthdays where your age ends in 5 or 0 and causes a big fuss complete with cards and awful paper napkins displaying the number on atrociously designed squares.  No, this is one that I want to be able to slip into gracefully...until the next "big one" that I know will come soon enough.  Or at least that was the plan.

Gracefulness has eluded me lately.  Since we returned home from vacation, I have been limping and my old friend, aka the ice bag, is not stepping up to the plate as adequately as I had hoped or at least not yet....

In my twenties, I had knee surgery as the result of a car accident.  This accident  haulted traffic for hours.  If you were one of those people stuck for hours around Tyson's Corner that day long ago, sorry, but I did not cause it!  But, my soon to be new boyfriend was stuck and had plenty of time to notice the mangled cars.  A few weeks later, I limped to the apartment pool where I lived to lounge in the sun.  It was a weekday.  All the chairs, except for those being used, were in a tall stack.  There was a guy sitting close to the stack of chairs that I so desperately needed to sit in.  He didn't see me limp over and therefore seemed perplexed as to why I was asking for help. So I began explaining my situation and he said "That was you?"  Little did I know he would invite me to a party weeks later, become my boyfriend and that we would walk down the isle of a church a year later...sans the limp!

By my thirties I had been para sailing (photo below), scuba diving, became an aerobics instructor and a dedicated gym member. Just before my 30th birthday I had my first child. But, even with 2 small children and a crazy breakneck paced career I fantasized about  jumping out of an airplane.  I never got the chance, somehow with no significant event, I managed to injure my knee again!  Another surgery.  Was it the high heels I wore everyday navigating the streets of Washington D.C.???

In my forties, I have become admittedly far less adventuresome. On our recent vacation, on the first full day, I was loading up my beach bag and turned to my husband and asked "should I bring the camera?" His reply, "No, it's our first day we won't need it." Yes, very bad blogging behavior, but trust me when I say it was all for the best.

I am not one of those women who does not get in the ocean water.  I was born near the ocean and spent high school summers lifeguarding at pools and a lake. As soon as we get to the beach, we quickly set down our stuff and head into the water.  On this particular day, the sand was scorching hot and I cut my foot on a broken shell.  I knew I had stepped down funny. The water was a  bit choppy.  The first wave came and it took me down.  I came up to see my husband standing there laughing.  Another wave, down again. Oh, thanks for the warning honey. This time I come up only to see that he is now bent over crying laughing.  Now, I start laughing too because we are the sort of couple who rarely witness each other being undignified.  Key to a successful marriage maybe?  But, I try to act mad and say what I always do in this situation "do you have anything to say?" (are you okay? and I'm sorry come to mind).  His reply...."sure wish I had the camera!"

And, because someone is not paying attention....I go down for the third time. Yes, it is beyond pathetic. Only this time I lost my damn sunglasses! My husband is still laughing and as I stand there with my sand encrusted hair I say "seriously...now what do have to say? Him... "you should have seen how funny that was, what I would have given for a video camera!"  Then I inform him I just lost my sunglasses.  He says "don't worry you can get a new pair in one of the shops here." My response "those were my favorite pair." My husband is still  laughing by the way, but senses he may need to smooth it over and says "you can have any pair you want".  I look at him and say "good...because those were expensive."   I turned to limp back  to my chair and I hear..... "well maybe I can find them here in the surf...." Over my shoulder I say "Yeah, honey you do that...."

So while I contemplate whether I will make it through my forties without another knee surgery, I will also be contemplating these:

My husband asked the best question last night. "Honey how to you want to spend your birthday?" Uh.....shopping and a movie.

This movie to be exact.  Here honey watch the trailer, your gonna love it!

Bye, bye birthday blues!!!