In Which I Turn 50!

It was my birthday, but the weather wasn't expected to be so great, so I spent the day working at home. We hadn't made plans to go out and it's a good thing we didn't; by day's end, the semi-sleety-snowy-icy mix had turned the roads into a slippery-slidey mess. In my warm, snug house, with my husband and that Tabbycat for company, I felt pretty slick about my choice, as I didn't have to take my life in my hands at the end of my work day to get back home.

I was born on December 2, 1964, so on this day, I turned 50. A half-century. I don't think I was expecting any big epiphanies, which is good, because I didn't really have any. I sometimes use my birthday as a chance to mull over my life and my choices and my future. But on this day, I didn't really. I was just glad to be out of the weather. I did count my blessings, as always. I knew I was well-loved. I felt generally positive about my life, about the year I have had, about the years ahead. I have had so many adventures and seen so many beautiful things . . .

I was well celebrated by those I spent my day with. My husband basically serves as our short-order cook when I am home, and so we had a tasty cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And the Tabbycat made the house a home, as he always does, with his white paws and pink toe-pads, with his purrs and his long snoozes under the blankies, never too far from me.

And the Crittergators and the Dancing Girls held a tiny birthday celebration in my honor. It featured a festive little pig who showed up with a birthday cake, of all things; and with the words "Still Going Hog Wild" engraved beneath his feet. I think this is the first year the Dancing Girls stuck around for my birthday, and what a pleasure it was to have them here to help celebrate. You may notice the addition of yet a third steed making its first appearance in these pages: a pink pig. (Gee, I guess with the pig cake-bearer and the pig-steed, it was an all-pig day! Hog wild, indeed!)

I like to think of 1964 as the year that the Beatles, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and I all arrived on the scene. Yes, some other stuff happened, of course, but in my mind, those were the big three. Rudolph was first aired on TV within a few days after I came home from the hospital with my mom for the first time. I like to think I may have watched some of it, even if only flickers of it in my infancy, but of course there is no way to be sure of that.

Having said all of that, you might expect my song choice to be a Beatles or Rudolph tune. But no, something even more awesome than all of that came up on Monday. The band U2 was supposed to headline a concert in NYC's Times Square on World AIDS Day, which was Monday. However, Bono recently was involved in a bike accident in Central Park, and he was unable to perform. So guess who he called in to help out: The Boss, Bruce Springsteen! So I have not just one, but two songs to post for this day. Both feature U2, but with Bruce Springsteen on lead vocals. As a bonus, I'm including links to both the new Springsteen/U2 versions, as well as the original U2 songs. Enjoy!

U2, Where the Streets Have No Name
U2/Bruce, Where the Streets Have No Name

U2, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
U2/Bruce, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

P.S. I have come back later and added this because it just may be relevant to our interests (as we say on the Internet). The film I picked as my birthday movie on this evening was the 1998 Anthony Hopkins/Brad Pitt flick, Meet Joe Black. The film's plot line is this: "A media mogul [Hopkins] acts as a guide to Death, who takes the form of a young man [Pitt] to learn about life on Earth and in the process, fall in love with his guide's daughter." (OK, so maybe I was thinking a few deeper thoughts on this day than I let on.)

And interestingly enough, the film's plot revolves around Anthony Hopkins' character's death on the night of his 65th birthday party. There is a quote that I especially enjoy that comes from an old Jamaican woman who is also dying. This is what she says to Death when she learns he has fallen in love. Somehow it seems especially relevant to all of us who Blip. :-)

"It nice it happen to you. Like you come to the island and had a holiday. Sun didn't burn you red-red, just brown. You sleep and no mosquito eat you. But the truth is, it bound to happen if you stay long enough. So take that nice picture you got in your head home with you, but don't be fooled. We lonely here mostly too. If we lucky, maybe, we got some nice pictures to take with us."

Yes, it is my birthday and I get to make one wish. So here is my special birthday wish on this day, for all of you:

May you also have some nice pictures to take with you . . .