Today is the Day

44 years ago I graced the world with my presence and my mother with her favorite child.  I was born on a Thursday (you know they say about Thursday's Child) at noon.  Knees first, upside down, weighing 8 pounds and 15 ounces.  Needless to say, I was 3 weeks overdue and she was very glad to see me.  And most of the time, I think she still is glad to see me. I am her favorite child, but my brother is in charge of her. 

44 years old.  Here I am at about 4 months old, maybe.  My mother didn't write on the back of this photo.  I think I had a huge head.  Isn't my mother beautiful?

And this is my favorite picture:

 I am 6 months old in this picture.  My mom has a big picture of this at her house.  Hers might be in color, too.  I am sure that my mom or my grandma made this dress for me to wear.  It was blue with little white polka dots.  The polka dots were raised up on the fabric--I know there is a name for this kind of fabric--but I cannot think of it.  I love my expression and how my eyes are 'talking' to someone.  And how about that hair?  I rocked hair. 

In the past 44 years, I have seen some changes......

Yellow rotary phones attached to the wall with a short cord....beige push button phones sitting on a table with a long cord.....then cordless phones.....and finally cell phones.

Movies at the movie theater.  First movie I can remember seeing?  Bedknobs and Broomsticks at the Fox Theater in Hutchinson, KS.  Then vcr's.  And dvd's.  And movies now?  I am watching one right now on my ipod.



One TV with channels 2 thru 12.  And my used-to-be stepdad (praise God for the used to be part) was in charge of what we watched, but we got to turn the channel by hand when he wanted a different channel.

We got cable TV when I was in third grade.  Pretty darn amazing invention.  Now, my house has 5 TV's.  Seriously.  And we never just sit and watch TV.  We watch something we have dvr'd and can fast forward thru the commercials.  And TV shows are online and on Netflix and sold in box sets at Target.

My sophomore year in high school, I looked like this:

 I rocked hair.  This is the year I could drive legally.  Date.   And I got a job at the grocery store. 

I turned 18 in 1985.  That was a big deal.  At that point in the world, 18-year-olds could legally enter adult beverage establishments and consume adult beverages.   Legally, people.  That was something I could do until July 1, 1985 when the law changed and you had to be 19.  So, yes, I was caught in that gap.....legal for 6 months, then not so much. 

HHS Graduation, May 1985

I began to teach in 1992.  My first 'teacher' picture......

Rows of desks.  Quiet children.  Worksheets.  Hours of grading papers.  Married parents.  No computers, no cell phones.  Flash forward a quick 19 years.....no rows.  No quiet children....I want to see kids in action--working together, talking and solving problems with others.  Not so many worksheets.  Not so many married parents--that's another post.  A computer for every kid and last week, we had a book bag 'ringing' in the third grade.

I think that when I was a little girl, I thought everything would stay the same.  I never really thought about the day my grandparents wouldn't be there or that I wouldn't be able to pick up the phone and hear my Grandma's voice.  Or that I might not live in the same house on the same block forever.  That the world might Change. That things wouldn't be the same and yet, would be the same. 

Change.  Changes in my blood pressure.  Changes in my children.  Changes in my heart...real and emotional.  I never really thought anybody lived past 40 when I was a little girl.  Who knew I would live to be 44 years old?  And when I think of my mom at 44, I was 24 and College Girl was 1.  When my grandma was 44, I was one.  I think I am OK not having a one year old grandchild right now.

Yesterday when I renewed my drivers license, the Courthouse Lady looked right at me and said, "It's good for 6 years!"  Yeah, do the math on that one.  I'll be 50.  Just imagine the changes.


I always have loved my birthday and today was no different.  And next year will be the same and every year after that....it's my day....nobody can take it from me. 

A birthday does a body good.  Just sayin'.