It’s my birthday.
Another one.
Sigh.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful that I even get to say “It’s my birthday” but, holy cow, those numbers are getting up there.
I’m now at the age I remember my grandmother was.
Yikes.
The other thing that’s difficult about my birthday is that it comes right after Christmas – when I got a lot of stuff, like 11 journals and 7 books, and 2 mugs. I’m kind of good for now.
One good thing about getting older is that you realize how fortunate you are and how lucky you are to have as much as you do.
The kids are at a loss of what to get me and wanted me to come up with a list of what I needed.
I need nothing, but I did manage to come up with a list.
- Earbud holder case
- Ticket and popcorn to The Post
- 2 things my choice from a Thrift Store
- One pair of wool socks
- Door on my office painted red
- Fresh raspberries
- January edition of a cooking magazine
- Bottle of coconut shampoo
- A bag of pistachios
Since Christmas, we have not had cold water due to a frozen pipe (which by the grace of God has not burst – talk about lucky!) We have hot water and so can do dishes (with heavy gloves to protect us from when it becomes boiling) and we can manually flush our toilets, but we can’t do laundry or any kind of cleaning.
It’s been a long time. We’ve had heaters on in the house where we suspect the pipe is frozen, (our house used to be a summer cottage and is woefully under-insulated) but they hardly make a dent when the temps are sub-zero.
So we wait.
Each day we check the water only to discover that the pipes have not yet unthawed. Not yet.
Could be a miserable situation, right?
To be honest, it’s a little trying, but when we have so much and *I* have so much (I have enough clothes that I haven’t had to do laundry yet – imagine!) when so many people in the world are already suffering, it’s not my place to complain.
A pair of birthday wool socks would warm my feet in this cold weather and a basket of fresh raspberries reeking of summer sun would, without doubt, make me one incredibly grateful and fortunate birthday girl.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
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