63 (and counting!)

Friends, I'm almost there.  I've almost pulled even with the narrator of the Beatles' tune "When I'm Sixty-Four!"  Today I turned 63 years of age.

Do I feel different?  Not really, but I rarely do when I have a birthday.  Just grateful for family and friends who care about me and provide love and support when I need it most!

I took some time away from work today to celebrate the occasion, although we began the festivities last night with a nice dinner out with our son and his family, which is always a great time.  Our timing was because our middle granddaughter is going with a friend to Orlando and leaving tonight.  Hope they have a great trip!

This morning I had a what I would easily characterize as a unique experience.  Some weeks ago I noticed someone I knew way, way back and whom I had not seen in probably forty years had looked at my LinkedIn profile.  I viewed hers and we eventually began exchanging messages.  Turn out that she was one of the people involved with locating classmates from high school for our upcoming 45 year reunion.  I told her I wasn't sure about the reunion but would be very glad to visit with her, so today was that day.

Other than not immediately recognizing each other at the coffee shop where we met, we had a long conversation that started as though we had last seen each other much more recently than we had.  Forty years is a long time, so we had a lot of ground to cover, including spouses, kids, and, in my case, grandkids.  It was very nice to get reacquainted and we agreed to try to visit more often from this point forward!

I also had the pleasure of having lunch with my next-door neighbor, who lives alone at an advanced age and has finally allowed my wife and me to help him with a few things here and there.  He caught me and suggested lunch a couple of weeks ago, so we went out for the midday meal today.  Good conversation all around, and funny, too!  He's a retired law enforcement officer, so he has a lot of great stories from his work and life experiences. 

I don't have any really philosophical comments to add.  Just happy to still be here and to enjoy the very full life I have!


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