My wife’s 66th birthday is over, however the afterglow will last for a while. No one savors a birthday like she does, and there’s a lot of pressure trying to make the day special. It was easier in the working days when price was no object, but on a fixed retirement budget it’s challenging. There were, however, several birthdays celebrated between jobs and with multiple homes that made glitzy gifts and elaborate vacations impossible. This was good practice for our retirement years when birthdays will likely be less elaborate as time goes on. 

I spent some time yesterday afternoon reading all the poems that I’ve written for her birthdays. Last night’s tribute was number 23 in the series dating back to 1999 when she was just 43. It brought back a lot of great memories and some laughs before we went to dinner. After dinner, we went to the beach and saw the most beautiful sunset, capping off the evening with pralines & cream ice cream at Kilwin’s. 

I think we would both agree that her best birthday (60th) was spent in Bora Bora. On the other hand, I ruined her 50th birthday celebration on Coronado Island with a kidney stone. The very first we spent together turned out special because of some unexpected fireworks during dinner. The second was in New Orleans while I was on business, while others were spent in Chicago, Indianapolis, Decatur, Austin, Portland, New York, San Francisco, and now Venice, Florida. Covid pretty much spoiled  2020 back in Oregon with take-out dinner and in-home quarantine. 2022 was her first birthday celebrated solely in Florida and with a beach drumline into a colorful sunset – the birthday afterglow!