Happy Birthday!!!

I'm sorry my brain is in such a fog that I got my days mixed up! You'd think that I would remember that I went to the garden center today and that they're not open on Sundays. Der! I'm going to blame it on all the rain and humidity turning my brain spongey.

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2002

Answers

Happy Birthday, Joy! Hope you're here to bring err....ummm...what the heck!! JOY - into our lives; for a long time to come!

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2002

Me too, wish you a Happy Birthday. Glad you made it another year. Eighty something is still considered young. Ha,ha, I don't know by who though.

Cute, Polly.

Wildman, (on time for a change)

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2002

Happy Birthday, ol' lady! (we have spongey brains around here too)

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2002

Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday Dear Joy Happy Birthday to you!

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2002

Thank you all kindly. I am not going to be back online until late this evening or maybe not until tomorrow, so I did want to stop in NOW and acknowledge this thread. I'll be back later, as I have an article I want to post for you to read. It's about turning . . . .

FIFTY!!!! There, I confessed, as I said I would! As for Miz Julie, she IS younger than I, but NOT by fifteen years -- much closer to my age than that. But I won't tell you exactly, in case she wants to try to hold onto the illusion of still being young. :-P

I am getting together with friends tonight, and now I must go attend to dog walking and critter feeding so I can get out of her on time.

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2002

Happy Birthday Joy!!!

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2002

Here's the article. I found it just a few days ago and decided to save it for my birthday:

From: http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/living/columnists/rick_shefch ik/3215407.htm

Posted on Wed, May. 08, 2002 GO ASK DAD: At 50, no reason why you can't be content BY RICK SHEFCHIK St. Paul Pioneer Press

I'll be half a century old Thursday.

It is, for such a fine round number, a very anticlimactic age to be.

It doesn't delineate middle age or creeping uncoolness. That happens when you turn 40 — or 30, if you're a particularly morbid young person.

Nor are you anywhere close to retirement — unless your company is contracting and would like to buy you out. But even those who find themselves at liberty at age 50 still need to find something else to do — unless we're talking about Cher or Cal Ripken or somebody like that.

Age 50 is just a bus stop on the long road between 40 and old age, whatever you perceive that to be. Nothing's really happening to you, but all around you, great, wonderful, melancholy things are happening to those you love.

Your daughter is going to her first prom. Next year, she'll leave for college. Your son is trying to line up a summer job so he can save money for his own computer — and then a car. Your dad or mom is in ill health, or maybe they're not with you anymore.

Time seems to be slipping by so quickly for the important people in your life, while it seems to move hardly at all for you when you're 50.

Unlike 40, there's no deceiving yourself that you've got more years left than you've already used up, but you are convinced they can be better years.

You won't be a father again, but you could well be a grandfather, and there's no reason why you can't be a really good grandfather — the kind who tells great stories but doesn't begin every sentence with, "When I was your age."

You won't play centerfield for the Yankees or even the Devil Rays, but there's no reason why you can't cut another stroke or two off your handicap — even more, if your handicap is higher than your shoe size.

You may be sliding pretty far down the list of potential Nobel Prize candidates, but there's no reason why you can't still get something published between two hard covers — presuming your attention span doesn't get any shorter.

Your chances of straightening out the world once and for all may be slipping away, but there's no reason why you can't stumble upon and impart a (presumably original) pearl of wisdom every now and then, even if nobody seems to be listening.

It may be tempting to think the world is about to pass you by — especially judging by the number of young drivers who zip around you on the inside lane going 20 miles over the speed limit — but you should also remind yourself that Baby Boomers still rule, and 50 is the epicenter of the Baby Boom. Maybe when we turn 60 or 70, we'll start to loosen our grip on the cultural and economic controls, but for now we're still deciding which TV shows get cancelled and which products fail.

Many people throw wild blowout parties for themselves — or have them thrown — when they turn 40. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see that as often when people turn 50, and I thoroughly understand why — not that I'm sure I can articulate it. Age 50, I believe, is a time for taking stock of what you have, what you like and where you are, and celebrating it — clinging to it, almost.

I have what I need. My wife puts up with me, and my children are so convinced that I'm a hopeless relic that I still have the capacity to pleasantly surprise them. Age 50 may not be exciting or momentous, but it's a good fit. I would be quite content if things could stay like this forever.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Rick Shefchik can be reached at rshefchik @pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5577.

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2002

. . . and many moooooore !

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2002

FIFTY!!!! You just proved to everyone that I'm terrible at math, since I missed your age by thirty something years. Couldn't you have lied? Or fudged just a little? Judy M informs everyone that I can't write unless I use Spell Check. EM and Joe think I've gone over the edge with my politics. Several of the ladies keep me conscious of my inflatable waist line and Jay doesn't want to comment on my worm. I'm beginning to feel like Rodney Dangerfield! If I tell you I'm nine years older than you, can I get some respect? Aren't your suppose to respect your elders? Don't I qualify? Oh well, maybe respect would be too big a burden to shoulder right now since I've already lived this long without it. (insert whining sound)

Wildman, (feeling under appreciated)

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2002

Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee! (I thought that might be a better song than Happy Birthday, since I'm late anyway!).

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2002

Well, sheepish, I haven't gotten THAT one before . . . . Joy to the World, yes. First the church version, then the Three Dog Night version -- I have claimed that as MY song. It was so nice of them to write one for me, don't ya think?! ;-)

I don't feel any differently than I did a couple of days ago. Fifty is overrated! :-D

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2002

Happy Birthday, Joy!! And I'm waaaay late. So, so sorry!!!!! It's just been a bad ten days or so. I truly hope you had a great "party"! And yes...fifty IS overrated. I've been fifty one for a year now and thought I was fifty all this time :-)!!

BTW...Wildman, you definitely have my respect for bringing a smile to my face over the last few days!! Thanx!

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2002

Happy belated birthday Joy! Hope I'm that nifty when I'm fifty! :)

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2002