April 6th and Happy Unbirthday to me!

Today is my unBirthday. Up until I was 12 years old I thought the 6th of April was my birth-day. In fact, I was actually born on the 26th of this month. 

Defying the authorities, not to say reality, my dear old mom decided to change my records so that I could enter kindergarten in January instead of September. Since she decided this when I was an infant she was really thinking ahead.

She masterminded this deceit by telling me and everyone else in the world that I was born on the 6th. Amazingly, she folded and re-folded my birth certificate many times and erased the 2 to fool the school authorities. I guess she assumed they wouldn’t check the original hospital records.

When I was 12 years old she told me the truth. Her explanation went thusly: “I didn’t want you to be confused or tell the teachers the truth.” It was big of her to save me from lying to my teachers don’t you think.

I remember feeling deeply shocked at this revelation. I asked her to confirm it many times….Really?….Really?  No, really?  I thought my birthday was my day, something I could count on, something I could trust. I was stunned with this new information. I was stunned by the plotting nature of this woman. I wondered whether she had also changed my name. The next day I called the hospital where I was born to get a copy of my real records. I held off believing her until the records arrived and I could see that I was indeed born on the 26th of April and that my name was indeed Ellen.

I tell myself it should really make no difference, that celebrating one’s birthday on this day or that day should be no big deal. In some countries getting the correct month is close enough. In some cultures the year is close enough. But, for me, in my culture, it made the difference between being an Aries or a Taurus. It also profoundly shook my confidence in my mother.

So, every year since I was 13, I have celebrated my birthday on the 26th of April and my unbirthday on the 6th.

Having this perverted view of birthdays for most of my life, I easily extended it when I turned the big 5-0. I decided to celebrate every single day for the whole of that year…..making each day my unbirthday. The celebration took different forms each day: one day I might give myself permission to be happy, on another I gave myself an extra piece of chocolate, or I could be grateful for the good and the bad in my life, or buy myself a little present, or invite a friend to do so, or buy an unbirthday present for a friend, and on some days I would give myself the gift of acceptance just for all of being who I am -  after all it was my unbirthday. It worked beautifully. I had a fulfilling, happy, prosperous year. In fact, it worked so well, I decided to extend this daily unbirthday policy indefinitely.

It actually isn’t that easy to do. It is a difficult to remember that every day is my unbirthday, it is difficult to think of yet another way to celebrate each day. Sometimes I forget, and those days remain mundane and unremarkable. 

When the 6th of April comes around, I am reminded that it is my official unbirthday and time to celebrate just for no reason at all, and each year on this day I am reminded of the day I found out the truth.

Happy Unbirthday to you too.

It was remarkable today on the beach how much seaweed was wshed up on the shore. But, we saw a beautiful heron for the first time. I know there are a ton of herons in Florida, but after 9 months this is the first one we saw on ‘our’ beach. This little guy, a Western Reef Heron allowed us to come quite near, and then he decided to go wading in the water a bit. Their coloring is an amazing slate blue gray. I don’t think he noticed all the seaweed.

After the beach we went down to the pool and this red headed woodpecker was waiting for us!

Birds are definetly our de-stressors.

I had a dream that I was kidnapped by some Iranians and was being shipped to Iran. They were very deceptive the way they captured me from the original trip I was supposed to take. I awoke in a fright! I just read Themos100 blog and they too had some strange dream about having an interview with Saddam.

This war is getting deep into our sub-consciousness.

Libraries

I went to the library today (or as my mom says ‘lie-berry’), to get my mother a large print book. A couple of things impressed me.

• There were so  many children. They were reading magazines, books and playing on the computer. A couple of children were even reading the news and doing research online, not just playing shoot ‘em up games. There was some online game playing too. They were flirting with each other and doing all sorts of activities, punching and talking amongst themselves. There was one boy who had to be reminded a number of times, not to jump from computer to computer. He knew the librarian had ‘caught him again’, and I wished I had my camera to record the priceless look he directed her way. So,you might ask, what is so impressive about this? I guess it left an impression because there are not many young people here in Florida, or not too many in the places that I go to! In addition, I guess I don’t go to the library on a Saturday afternoon much.
  
• They had a whole jumbo sized room for ‘large print  books’. This is really great for the elderly., it impressed me immediately ….except when I walked into the room I was met by the most unpleasant odor of really dirty bodies. There were 2 (maybe homeless, maybe not) gentlemen in the room. One was sound asleep and breathing loudly and rhythmically, the other gray haired bearded fellow was reading. I don’t know which of the men were reeking so badly, regardless,  I looked around fast and selected two books, hoping they would interest Dear Ole Lie-Berry Mom.  Why again, you might ask, did this impress me. There are probably 100 smelly men at any given moment in time in libraries all over the country. Again, I must confess, I don’t go to the library often.

So, now what impresses me is the fact that I need to get out more often!!

And now for something completely different……

Miranda and I are sitting here, writing a blog together.

She wants me to tell ya’ll about the following site.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/multimedia/bushblair_endlesslove.mov

The war is so depressing, maybe this will cheer some of you up.

If that one doesn’t, this one might….need a bit of the ironic in you to appreciate.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toostupidtobepresident.com%2Fshockwave%2Fwarachance.htm

PS….Miranda is a Brit! 

Numbers

Taxes. Cateogories. Year in review…….Ugh! #^@!*

For the record….I am not too fond of numbers. Any sort of numbers. The two exceptions to the rule are:

• My Golf scores.
  
• My Xanga hits

There are always exceptions to the rule…..

Life is different. Life is always different, but today is more different than other days.

The War has changed the miasma of our days. It is there and not there in our thoughts. It is unfolding in most peculiar ways, the TV coverage, the worldwide protests, the deep grief, the relief that something is moving now, the utter stupidity of guns and shooting people, our own men attacking each other, the whole shebang….and somehow, it doesn’t affect us so directly….except for the deep grief I feel, except for the TV interruptions, except for the pain in  my gut……..

The daily routine of our lives has changed more dramatically due to my mothers fall.

She now lives with us. My nursing skills are increasing, but I’ll never be good at it. We are working out a routine that is acceptable to all of us and trying to make her comfortable and at home. It is nice to be able to share the load of responsibility for her with Miranda, who does have some nursing skills. The Florida health care system is shocking. With an acute painful fracture, she cannot go to the Orthopedic doc without a referral, and her primary care doc says he is so busy, he can send in the paper work required in a couple of weeks! Mom is being brave and trying to adjust to her new life of less mobility. She doesn’t do change well…….but then, I suppose most 91 years don’t.

What happened to our sand sculptress? Our weekly surprises were so delightful. Someone has taken her place and their skills are not as good.

Here you can see what I mean. We have a woman, but what’s with her stomach? Is this supposed to be a large belly button? A C-section? The anatomy just isn’t right……..

We hope our other sand sculptress returns with their amazing creations.

Who Needs to Make Up Excuses

Just the other day I was expounding on the marvels of researching and test driving motor scooters as great diversions. This diversion lasted me more than a week, then I had to get down to work on the taxes. I was doing it! I was making headway. I made my piles and was going to really dig into the matter, entering the categories and more….I really was. Then life threw another diversion into my life. Admittedly, this one is not as fun, this one is not as tantalizing. This diversion is a life necessity one.

My mother fell while trying to step over a curb. She was in pain. At first we thought it was probably a sprain. I got the phone call while teeing up on the 17th hole. The funny thing is that I almost never take my phone with me on the course. I almost fled the golf course on  the 17th hole, but what golf addict would do that? I finished the 18th and then headed over to her house. (This was one time where the phone was a good thing to have on the golf course.)

Remember, the old gal is about to turn 91. This usually increases the presumptive diagnosis from sprain to fracture…..added to the fact that she has a touch of osteoporosis….what 91 year old lady doesn’t? So, we go off to the ER to get it x-rayed. Wow, what an experience. There were people with bandages around their legs with their socks full of red paint???? nope, not paint there…it was blood. Can’t forget the vomiting woman, or the man with the patch on his eye….foreign body, said he was in pain……doc said ‘you’d best go to the ophthalmologist.

Dear old Mom, gets the foot x-rayed and the technician says ‘It looks good, no problem. Doc will tell you just to go home’. He got half of it right. The Doc says ‘He’s just the technician, I am the Doctor, and I say the metatarsals are broken.” And then ole doc says ” There is nothing we can do for it. Go home, take some Tyenol Extra Strength”.

Mom was going to go to her own HUD subsidized apartment in 3 weeks. Now, we are not sure what will happen. We moved her into our place, and have to care for her every need. Miranda shines at this job, but is mostly busy working. The job takes a lot of time and a lot of energy. I find that I am not fit for the nursing business.

Today, our water filter broke and after the main was turned off, every towel in the house was used to mop up the flood. I spent the day running around caring for Mom and getting new water filters…….

So, for the past 2 days, I’ve had too many diversions from my taxes and now am wishing for some time to do the taxes!!!!!! Isn’t life funny.

I was reading a blog that a teenager wrote. She is a very wonderful writer and she was voicing a concern of being contradictory. I say, life is contradictory and so am I. I say it proud, I be it proud.

 Lightning

Every place that I have lived has weather. But Florida has WEATHER! 

 In Seattle, it is gray, and it drizzles. I experienced snow almost once a year, and every few years there would be a thunderstorm. The thunderstorms in Seattle consisted of a bit of lightning, some rumbling. They last a short amount of time.

In Marin County, California, I remember the wind was significant. Whipping through the mountains, whooshing with noise. It could be mildly intense.

Florida seems to have more weather to me. It is more intense. Turning in a 360 degree circle, you can see 6 different kinds of clouds and weather patterns. When it rains, it doesn’t drizzle, it comes down in buckets, it pours, it is full blast. Last night we had a storm. With a sudden onset, the wind increased and the palm fronds were all sideways, branches were torn off. In the clouds there was clashing and banging and rumbling and the sky was lighting up with all sorts of colors! We stood on the balcony amazed.  There was white streaking all over the place. I saw one pattern that was like a spider web! And then there was more.

It wasn’t just your normal lightning. What was that? Blue lightning? Again and again. We felt like we were on a different planet.

  The rumbling thunder and the lightning simultaneously all around us. It was intense. It lasted about a half hour. Then just as suddenly as it had begun, poof, it was gone. It was gentle, no wind, no noises.

Funny coincidence, this all occurred during President Bushes speech to the Nation/World, while he was giving his ultimatums to Sadaam.