Old, older, not yet oldest

I am having a birthday soon, and while I don't really think about my birthday a lot (really, another year older and deeper in debt about sums it up) this year one of my siblings is turning 60, and that is something to think about.  So, thinking about her birthday made me think about mine and I realized that I am going to be three times older than I was at 21.  Remember turning 21?  Remember going out to a bar for the first time (with a real drivers license, of course) and having your first legal drink?  Remember later that same night, puking and wondering how that happened?  And yet, doing it all over again a day or two later?  Remember being 21 and getting to vote for the first time?  (Yes, now you can vote at 18.  In the old days, you couldn't.)  Remember how it felt to cast that vote and still have your guy loose to an imbecile like Nixon?  Remember being 21 and thinking you knew so much and at the exact same time you had absolutely no idea what you were doing with your life?

The day I turned 21 I had been married for 5 months. I was so, so young.  We all were, at 21.

OK, so now I am three times that age.  Can't yet collect social security, have run through two husbands, don't own much of anything, have a job I like that pays terribly, have a small handful of friends, great kids, good siblings, very good health and I am sometimes happy.  I guess I was sometimes happy 42 years ago but I don't think I knew what that meant then.  It's mercurial, that's for sure, but then, so is life.  At least a birthday can make you stop for a few minutes and see what's around you.  As Ferris said, "life  moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Happy Day, birthday or not.

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