My 53rd birthday is this Friday.  1.22.63

53.  This is not a misprint or just my wild imagination...it is a real event.  I can say that 50 is the new "30"--I think I said that on my 40th birthday as well.  Heck, what makes 30 so special?  I guess all the "milestones" get special treatment because that are all divisible by the number five.  (that is the best logic I could come up with, so if you have other thoughts....PLEASE leave me a comment so I can be better informed.

But 53...is just sort of blah.  Not the big 5-0 and not 55.   At least with 55, you get the senior discount at The Movie Tavern.  With 53....you get nothing.  I recall this same feeling at 33, 37, 43, 47...just stuck in the middle....Remember when you were a Sophomore in high school.  You were no longer the new kids on the block (Freshman.) You were not getting to plan for your approaching graduation (Senior.)  Last as a Junior you had getting your drivers license to look forward to or the Prom....that Sophomore year was also blah.

My mother told that that when I turned three I told everyone that I was going to be six.  I had asked  "Can I wash dishes when I am three?"   "No" replied my mom.  "When can I wash dishes?"  "When you are six."  Same conversation about when I could go to school.  Three was blah.  I was going to be six. 

So now 50 years later from that conversation, I would be happy to have the excuse that I'm too old to wash dishes.  But as an adult, I have all those "duties."  Someone said to me this year, "You are as young as you feel."  Well, I feel 53 but I'm going to fake it and feel six.   I need to be six. 
I have a sink full of dirty dishes that needs to be washed.
 

Well.....2015 has ended and 2016 has started.  The old calendar has been trashed and the new one has taken its place.

Yes, it is a new year...but so far these days look a whole lot like the ones in 2015.  Is that an age thing or are we going through the motions of kidding ourselves and using the word "new" to get us all excited.  Do we get excited about the "new" year because we can correct all the mistakes of the previous year?  Maybe our excitement is about all the great things we will do....the places we will go, the sites we will see and the new healthy habits we will form.

So what does 2016 have in store.....my new calendar has the same months, the same days of the week, the same holidays.....the only thing different is that the spaces are blank......So let's try and fill them with some details worth sharing, ones worth celebrating and ones worth boasting about on 12/31/16 or 1/1/17---LOOK WHAT I DID! 

My wish for 2016......from the words of Ellen DeGeneres:
BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER!

anyway..........................