Tuesday 31 December 2019

Happy New Year.







The party's over!
Not just Christmas, but a three-day event to mark a milestone for me - an 80th birthday. To have a separate birthday celebration is a wonderful thing. Those born just before or just after or even exactly at Christmas will know what I mean - the combined Christmas and birthday presents, the excuses of the shops being too full or empty or closed. Galling for a child, understandable (of course) to an adult, but how lovely to have a special day for oneself. Even tougher for me as a child because no less than four generations in my family shared the same birthday, Great Grandfather, Grandfather, Uncle and me. Whatever was going on nine months earlier in this family?

Both my sons were born in January, both in the midst of severe and prolonged snow storms, so we tried to ensure that they had mid-summer celebrations with half a birthday cake each.The midsummer celebration was reintroduced this year by my elder son, and may be continued in 2020. However, the  January birthdays remain an excellent example of family planning as the things they had hoped for at Christmas were so often half-price in the January sales.

I had a very happy gathering of friends and family for my 70th birthday, which seems only a couple of years ago. The one thing I never appreciated until now is that how ever crumbling the external body appears the inner person remains at an optimum age. My optimum age is 28 and I'm still there inside, even when I struggle to get out of a chair or fall over in the garden.

My grandchildren know my true inner age and give me huge encouragement in being silly, making up ridiculous songs and poems, telling nonsensicle stories and generally acting as if I'm closer to their age than my own. This birthday was with family, coming from far and wide, including a soon-to-be born grandchild  whose rest was disturbed quite a bit by cousins wanting to feel a kick and to invite him/her to come out soon. In beautiful weather we all went up on the hills here, and I haven't done that for a long time. Back at home I did no washing up at all  Three-year old Grandson entertained us (and probably a few neighbours) on his drum kit (thanks to Uncle) and some of us might have snoozed slightly in front of a log fire.

Now they are all back in their own places, or almost so for the long-distance ones, and the year slides into a misty end and into a future that is likely to be as messy as my kitchen.




Muddles can be cleaned, confusions can be clarified. For all of us apparently small things, encouragement to get up the hill and a hand wielding a tea-towel can mean a very great deal.

 Happy  New Year to all with the real hope for peace and goodwill.

16 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday and what a lovely post. I agree, we all change on the outside but our inner-self remains the same.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Starting Over....you have really said it all so beautifully in your own Christmas post. I especially enjoy the 'get over it' thought. I must do it more often myself!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a truly lovely post.
    My eternal self is a little older than you (somewhere in her early thirties) and my physical self a little younger, but those are unimportant details.
    A very Happy (albeit) belated Birthday to a fellow Capricorn.

    ReplyDelete
  4. E.C: Thank you so much for your comment. Yes, early thirties were very positive too. Capricorns are good people, hard-working, funny and very tolerant of combined gifts. Happy Birthday to you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good 80th solar circuit! Yup, I'm still about 28 inside, despite the bruise on my bum from a controlled fall onto the floor yesterday.

    Messes always seem so much worse than the actual time it takes to tidy them up.

    March madness? Spring break?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ouch! Glad it was controlled.
    Happy New Year to you all.
    I'll be having a spring break in Austria to meet the new little one, so that's a lot to look forward to.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy birthday and happy new year! I agree with your assessment, and hope to continue aging as a young-inside person!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy New Year and happy birthday! That sounds very lovely. I'm going to be 70 this year and I agree - I feel maybe 35 inside. And sometimes 12. You sound like a lovely granny.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Beth: Thank you so much for your comment. Very Happy New Year to you and Phoenicia.

    MM: Thank you. I hope the neighbours also enjoyed the many versions of Happy Birthday, some with drums and cymbals. My special day did not go unnoticed!

    Pam: 70 is the new 35, and with the amount of walking you do you will remain in that age group for a long time. I think you are the Granny expert, with the range of ages and interests you deal with so much of the time. But thank you anyway. I'm sure all grandparents do their best.

    And to the Chinese comment: How do you find time to read blogs when you have so many business interests? Just get your employees to put some clothes on please.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cellular mutations are believed to occur regularly but the immune system normally captures and destroys abnormal cells. Therefore, the growth of cancer may be caused by a deficiency of the immune system.
    satta king
    play bazaar

    ReplyDelete
  13. So you have decided that you want to do something about your body and you want to build some muscle. Your body is a very complex machine and it is important to know the proper techniques in order to get this done. The following article will help you with what you need to know.
    satta king
    play bazaar

    ReplyDelete
  14. You got a mess of spam there. If you go to the blogger comments, you can report them all as spam, which helps keep them a little bit controlled.

    Now that you can see properly...

    ReplyDelete
  15. The greatest error individuals make is letting a stain set before they tidy it up. Ensure you have cleaning arrangement available and deal with messes right away. Satta King
    Play Bazaar

    ReplyDelete