34
Today is my birthday. Happy Birthday to me. I have now completed 34 years on this planet, and find myself looking back at what I have accomplished so far and what I have. I also find myself wondering what the next 34 years will be like, what they will hold, and how I might reach the goals I have for myself and my future life.So far I have traveled out of the country to only Mexico and Canada.
I have slept in a hammock on the beach.
I've been picked up for a date by a man riding a white horse.
I missed a flight in order to go to Tijuana.
I learned to speak another language (Spanish).
I learned to play the clarinet, and some piano and guitar (though the last two were pitiful attempts).
I have tried alcohol and marijuana, and was impressed with neither.
I have been drunk, but never high.
I have had great sex as well as lousy sex.
I have been married twice, and divorced once. I have spent almost 1/3 of my life married.
I have been to Washington, D.C., Disneyworld, Epcot, Las Vegas, and a handfull of other tourtist traps. I have summered in the Cumberland Mountain in Tennessee.
I have had braces to straighten my teeth, and various dermatological treatment to fix my complexion.
I have tried no less that 3 different diet plans, and have lost and gained well over 100 pounds over the years. I have dieted about half of my life.
I have owned at least 8 cats - Drippy, Tigger, Charmin, Boots, BA Honey, Smokey, Callie, and Macy Gray, as well as an assortment of fish, birds, a turtle, and a donated hamster.
I have lived in 5 different states - FL, TN, CO, GA, and KY.
I have an AA, BA, and MA, and 3 years of doctoral coursework.
I have held no fewer than 11 jobs.
I have tried every food ever put in front of me.
I have been fishing and hunting.
I have been born again and baptized.
I have joined a church.
I have sung the national anthem at horse racing.
I have sung and acted in front of thousands of people. I have won singing competitions.
I have had chicken pox and mono.
I have tanned naked and gone skinny dipping.
I have seen 5 different mental health counselors of some type for some reason-or-other including pre-marital and post-marital counseling.
I have taught college as a professor - and have taught 9 different courses that I can recall.
I've been date-raped and lived to talk about it.
I have had an official "nervous breakdown".
I have comforted a friend who attempted suicide.
I have survived my own husband's brush with suicidal thoughts and a trip to the ER.
I have ridden a Greyhound bus over 22 hours from Georgia to Ohio and back.
I have truly loved someone.
I have lied and been lied to many times.
I have risked everything I had for love.
I have attended the funerals of my gradparents.
I have had my first mamogram and have expereinced both my grandmother and mother surviving breast cancer.
I have seen my little brother find love and get married.
I've dated a preacher, a golf-pro, a pilot, a probate judge, a professor, a middle-school teacher, a frech-horn player, a physicist, and a Marine.
I've been published several times in international journals.
I have colored, highlighed, and permed my hair more times than I can count.
I pierced my ears against my parents' will.
I lived in a trailor park next to people that owned Basset hounds.
I've read volumes of poetry.
I've made snow-angels at midnight under a full moon.
I've seen great musical theatre and not-so-great musical theatre.
I've been by the side of a great friend as she gave birth, and cried tears of unbelievable wonder.
And there are still some things that I haven't done - some of which I feel I must do at some point in my life, and others are just there because it seems like most people have experienced them, and I wouldn't want to miss out on anything.
I've never had children, and I've never been pregnant. For that matter, I've never (until now) been with anyone that I thought I wanted to have children with.
I've never owned a new car.
I've never owned a home.
I have not earned a terminal degree in anything. I did not finish my dissertation.
I've never been on a cruise.
I've never had a "real" honeymoon.
I have not seen the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, Hawaii, or Alaska.
I've never ridden on a train.
I have never had a massage.
I have never had a "night of passion" (whatever that means).
I've never had someone tell me that "You complete me" or "You make me want to be a better man" - or anything even close. Most of the time, it's been more like, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
posted by No Longer In Crisis @ 5/19/2005 10:52:00 AM
<< Home