Birthday Celebrations
I turned 69 yesterday. One’s 69th birthday isn’t a landmark event. It isn’t like turning 21 or 40 or 65. It’s just another year older. Having said that, I had a wonderful birthday celebration, including lunch with dear friends, cards and calls from friends and grandkids, and dinner with my husband. My mother went to heaven when she was 68, and so I will admit that it was somewhat a relief to pass on from 68 to 69. It was also a startling reminder of how young my mother was when she passed away. I felt her presence yesterday.

Buddies
When I worked hard for my money, one part of my job was liaising with members of the state legislature and Congress, and their aides. As part of that role, I traveled to Washington, D.C. a couple of times a year to meet with Colorado’s senators and representatives and their aides. I was almost always accompanied by my boss and another CHFA employee. We worked hard, but always had fun. We are all retired now, and try to get together on some sort of regular basis. Because of COVID and other issues, it had been a couple of years since we had gotten together. I was delighted that we were able to have lunch yesterday. What a birthday treat. We are all of a similar age (they are a few years older, but whatevah), so we all have similar aging challenges. I laughed out loud when the server took our order. One of my friends, Mark, ordered a sandwich. “Would you like ciabatta bread or foccacia bread?” the youthful server asked. “Which one is softer?” Mark responded. Even a good sandwich isn’t good if you can’t chew it with your 73-year-old teeth!

Choco-tini
Bill and I celebrated my birthday at one of our favorite restaurants, called Farro. It offers very delicious Italian food, and good service. As we drove over to the restaurant, I decided instead of having my traditional martini, I would have the server recommend something more Christmasy. I didn’t have a particular drink in mind, but envisioned perhaps a Cosmo or some sort of adult beverage with cranberry juice and a holly sprig. Our server seemed puzzled at my request, but said she would ask the bartender to create something with the holiday spirit. What she ended up bringing me was a chocolate martini. Hmmm. It wouldn’t have been my first choice, and certainly not my first choice to have as a before-dinner drink. It tasted good enough, but not good enough to ever have again. I’ll stick to my gin martini, up, with a bleu cheese olive, thank you very much. Christmasy enough for me….

Holiday Crazy
We are very much looking forward to the arrival of our Vermont family this weekend. We hope to see a lot of them, though they will be busy. We, too, have a lot of things happening. Saturday, the Wind Crest Chorale is performing a holiday concert. Bill and I will drive to Fort Collins on Sunday morning, and Jen is treating me to a performance of The Messiah as a birthday present. A couple of un-holidayish doctor appointments and a fun lunch with friends will bring us all the way to Christmas Eve, which we will spend with our kids. Whew.

Ciao.