The View from the Hermitage, Day 473

Birthday Selfie 2021

I'm still reading and taking just a few notes on the pandemic, but this post is birthday-oriented. First, have I kept the resolutions I made for 2021?

EACH MONTH:

1. Make a pie.
2. Use the Instant Pot.
3. Start, work on, or finish a "creative thing."
4. Donate or toss one banker's box of stuff.
5. Use Apple watch's monthly fitness goal or set one of my own.

Why, yes ... yes I have, all of them even.

What does the Washington Post's horoscope say about people whose birthday today is?

You are soft, giving, and perceptive. You tend to draw attention to you whether you seek it our or not. You are adventurous and impulsive, and you have an excellent memory. You are always generous and kind. This year you want to secure your future for yourself and those who are close to you. Don't push yourself too hard. Explore real estate opportunities.

With all the flowery what-not, they must really want me to keep my subscription going.

Besides my birthday, today is Canada Day, International Joke Day, and the 100th anniversary of China's Communist Party. Probably the most famous person to share my birthday would be Diana, Princess of Wales. I'm five years older than she would be.

Finally, in the "do something every day that scares you" realm, I wrote a poem for this birthday. I wish I could get the lines formatted differently, but that's definitely a first-world problem. Enjoy the rest of your day. I certainly plan to.

When I Was a Child

 When I was a child

big brothers picked on little sisters

saying they were no bigger

than a piece of dirt.

Bullying? It wasn’t called that then.

 

Now I am older.

Big brothers share with little sisters

and dirt is never mentioned

except in contexts such as gardening.

Not bullying but brothering.

 

When I was a child

we hid under our desks or in the cloakroom

not really sure just what it was

our parents were afraid of

as they talked in muffled voices.

 

Now I am older.

We no longer duck and cover

against some unknown enemy.

We are our own worst enemy

destroying our world on our own.

 

When I was a child

smallpox was real as was polio.

One Saturday morning we left cartoons

to get vaccines

one of which came in a sugar cube.

 

Now I am older

and have outlived smallpox

but not polio by decades.

There are scary new ailments

with vaccines for those willing to get them.

 

When I was a child

grown-up children moved home

to a place called a hometown

to plant seeds of their own children

as they themselves ripened.

 

Now I am older

mother to kids with a hometown 

even if but one still lives in it.

Those kids call our house their home-place

something that pleases me.

 

When I was a child

sixty-five meant grey hair and wrinkles

men retiring to go home

and prepare to die

unless they puttered.

 

Now I am sixty-five.

Some wrinkles but no grey hair.

Old looks different these days.

It may feel different, too.

I’ll let you know when I find out.