Day 1 of my Fiftieth Year

I vividly remember a day when my oldest child was a newborn, thinking to myself, that she'd be 16 in the year 2000 and I'd be 39. I couldn't even hold those numbers in my head they seemed so far off in the distance. I wondered if the world would even survive until then. After that, I guess in a fit of hopeful optimism, I had three more children and life went on, as it does.

Here we all are in the year 2010, I've just turned 49, and my daughter has two kids of her own, one son is recently married and the other two are almost adults. Wow, the things we've been through in the intervening years.

Some days I'm grateful they even speak to me, (like most parents, I made my share of mistakes) and other days I think "Hey, You wanna call your mom once in a while, you little *&%^@".

If I was to croak today my obit would read "in her 50th year". Huh?? Fiftieth year. Wow. For some reason, this year seems extra-special to me. Like I should do something with it. Assuming I'll be allowed to fulfill the entire year, that gives me 365 days to fill with special memories.

Day One:
Today, I'm having dinner with my daughter and grandchildren. My four year old granddaughter has made cupcakes for my birthday. I don't for a minute take any of this for granted. A mere six years ago, after starting treatment for breast cancer I asked 'the universe' to allow me a chance to meet even one of my grandchildren. Until that moment, I didn't realize how much I was looking forward to having some, and I've been lucky enough to meet two!! My life is charmed.