A Valentine’s Birthday Log Blog

12:30 a.m.—It is Valentine’s Day and I am now sixty years old. I am going to update the post throughout the day, by the end of which I now have no idea what will be written here!

1:10 a.m.—While reading other folks blogs, I received a “happy birthday” phone call from my favorite female who assures me that I shall not be alone on Valentines’ Day/my birthday.

10:30 a.m.—I awakened this morning feeling not necessarily older, but somehow “unacceptable.” I can’t explain that, unless it had something to do with the dreams I was having just before I woke up.

Alex was in my bedroom meowing for breakfast. As I walked toward the kitchen, he did his figure-8 walk through my legs, rubbing his body against my calves. In the kitchen, I rubbed his chin and the top of his head; then, served my master his breakfast. Alex has now completed his morning meal and gone out-of-doors to explore and chat with his friends.

Just as I put the coffee on to brew, the telephone rang. It was my mother calling with birthday wishes. She told me a version of my birth story I don’t think she’d ever told me before. Yesterday a friend asked me how long she was in labor with my birth. I really didn’t know and didn’t ask my mother this morning. However, she told me without my asking: I was born thirty minutes after she arrived at the hospital. Six other baby boys were delivered by the same doctor, one after the other. My mother said the doctor came into her hospital room after I was born and said, “If I had known all seven of you ladies wanted Valentines, I’d have sent you cards. This has been the busiest morning I have ever had.”

12:15 p.m.—I telephoned for a haircut/beard trim appointment for tomorrow and the stylist told me that he has openings for this afternoon. So I shall have my shaggy-dog look reduced as part of my birthday celebration.

7:30 p.m.—The afternoon was mixed emotions. My haircut and beard trim turned out to be one of the best I have ever received. I then went to have my driver’s license renewed. I picked up my friend along the way because she needed to replace her stolen ID cards—no driver’s license. I was able to help her determine what she needs to prove her identity.

That time spent at the Drivers License Bureau was bittersweet. I have been telling her she needed to replace her ID for a year. Now she is in a rush to do so and I believe—she won’t confirm it—that her rush is so that she can get a marriage license and marry the dude who is expecting a large insurance settlement from his car accident in two weeks.

So I wasn’t alone on my birthday; I was with the woman I wanted to be with and we had four hours together. Yet I feel a sense of heartache at her upcoming marriage.

11:40 p.m.—I spent the remainder of my birthday playing with Alex, finishing a novel I was reading, and reading other folks blogs. Now I shall retire and try to sleep.

Thanks to everyone who sent me happy birthday wishes!