In the words of the philosophers, The Beatles...

"They say it's your birthday.  Happy Birthday, to ya!"

Yep.  It seems to come around once a year or so.  There was a time I made a big deal of it - I took the day off from work.  Well, except the one time my sweet daughter scheduled appointments for me on that day, well in advance.  No, I still haven't gotten over that.  I fixed that the next year by being closed that day - we all got the day off.  Like a national holiday.  But, I digress.

I called it "my birthday season," starting with people setting off fireworks two weeks in advance... which just so happened to coincide with the 4th of July.  It only seemed right to be adored for a couple weeks.  ;-)

When working at the whale watch company, the timing worked out that there was only one time in those years that I had my birthday off.  By that point, it had become less of a big deal.

But, this may explain why I was focused on getting better... to the point we could leave on the 18th.  Joan made it ever better by suggesting we leave on the 17th, and take a day off the road on the 18th.  She said, "So we can celebrate your birthday," but I knew she was thinking I might need some recovery time after that first drive and all the loading up.  Surprise - I am fine today!  I went for a nice walk last night after the sun went down; and the same distance on a walk this morning.  We both slept great in the motorhome.  Well, all three of us slept great, but Rufus really doesn't have much trouble falling asleep.  He was tuckered out after that first day on the road yesterday, though.

I was up around 6:00 this morning, getting Rufus fed and starting my morning routine, when I heard "Happy Birthday!" from the bedroom.  No, it wasn't a "bedroom happy birthday," but that's none of your business.  Nice greeting from my Honey to start the day.

I wasn't expecting anything in the way of presents... well, except some well-deserved adoration.  Joan had asked if there was anything I wanted, and I have to say I am pretty content; being able to get out and about was the goal I have been working towards.  She brought out cards and a gift bag... nice cards to take care of that "adoration" part, Rufus sitting by my side, and... presents.  She bought me a t-shirt with a subtle guitar design.

And then, a small box.  Jewelry?  I don't really wear jewelry... I opened the box... a piece of paper inside.  "Oh, you got me a piece of paper - how thoughtful!"

"No, it is a picture of what you're getting.  It was supposed to get here 10 days ago.  I had to call Revzilla and have them change the address to get it shipped to Hart Ranch."

Revzilla?  It is a premier motorcycle-stuff place.  Great company to deal with.  Digressing again.  I opened the paper and it is a photo of Vespa gloves!

Nice!  It is something I would not have splurged on for myself.  Splurged?  Well, I generally buy my motorcycle/scooter gloves at Harbor Freight.  She told me to look on Revzilla's site for a good description of the gloves... I had to chuckle: they cost about what my first motorcycle (a well-used Honda 150 Dream) cost back in the 60s.  ;-)

Bacon and eggs are cooking as I write this.  It is early in Phoenix (2 hours different from us), but I expect a call from our daughter when she gets up, for more adoring.  Yep, I have having a really good day.

:-)

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Nice visit with my sweet little girl.  She always makes me laugh; sometimes makes me a bit teary.  Never a dull conversation between us.  We have a ritual when we aren't together for special occasions: we open cards while on the phone together.  There's usually a funny one and a sweet one.  Of course, the "funny" one is generally something about getting older... even though she isn't that far behind me.  The sweet one is to try to get the other person to shed a tear.  Yeah, what's sweet about that?  Being the big, tough guy I am, I have to fake a tear so she won't feel bad.  Yeah, that's it; that's what I do.

Joan asked if I wanted to go to the River Walk... it would be a great place to walk, plenty of good restaurants, but it is another hot day.  Instead, we did some wandering around, a bit of shopping, and to show that I am officially a geezer, I opted for lunch at Cracker Barrel.

Right after the surgery, before I could get out of the house, Cracker Barrel started to run a commercial showing their Southern Fried Chicken.  For a month or so, I was craving it.  It was decent, but didn't live up to the expectations in my head.  Yeah, I know... I coulda had Italian or some kind of beefy meat.  Fortunately, once we are down for a while again, we can have more leisurely lunches... it isn't a once a year thing.  ;-)