yesterday

all my troubles seemed so far away ... wait ... no they didn't ... they were right here smacking me in the face like they always do ... anywho ... yesterday was my birthday and now i am plenty-eight ... again ... it's been ten years since i've been plenty-eight ... and before that it was another ten years ... when Auntia learned to count to 100 she asked her preschool teacher when she was gonna learn the plenty's ... we had to have a parent-teacher conference about that ... anywho ... Auntia baked me a cake...that lights up...in the dark...and i ate birthday pancakes...with Land O'Lakes butter and 100% pure Canadian maple syrup ... because i'm worth it

and one morning last week my sister showed up at my door with my favorite great-niece Itty Bitty and donuts...yep - the box is empty
and there were phone calls telling me how old i am and one from my mother asking me if i was mad at her for the gift of life (what the?!?!) and a couple emails and some cards and presents...yes ... yes that is a cowboy with no shirt on and he has one thing on his mind - a tasty pan of really hot biscuits ... and there is a moo-shoe pig in there somewhere, too
i've wanted a prayer drum every since i watched The Karate Kid II ... and i'll be able to grow my own dragon ... and feed it pink sno balls ... and i was given lottsa hugs from my favorite little people
getting older is such a blessing
it really beats the alternative
any time after 54 is gravy, baby!