I’ve always felt that Friday the 13th was a lucky day.  As far back as I can remember, it’s never been a bad day, although most of my life it’s been a work day. At least, it was the last day of the work week and that always made it good. There are no significant events, birthdays or anniversaries noted on my phone for the day, so there’s nothing to celebrate or regret. I am meeting an old classmate for lunch today after at least 50 years apart and there’s an I.U. Basketball game this evening. There is much to look forward to on this Friday the 13th, especially since the “Leadership Meetings” are no longer a Friday fixture. Lately, they’ve simply been friendly get-togethers to watch a scheduled game.  

As it turns out, my fellow Elkhart High School graduate has lived in Portland for at least the last forty years. I’ll find out more at lunch, but potentially he could be an addition to our “Leadership” group. Two of the other members are also from Elkhart, so it’s amazing we’ve all migrated to Portland. We’re all now retired with many memories of our home town back in Indiana. In our phone conversation yesterday to set-up lunch, I did find out that he doesn’t get back to the area, including our recent 50th High School reunion. It will be interesting to see who we still have in common and where life has taken us all these years. Reconnecting is one of the great joys of retirement. I probably wouldn’t have found him if it weren’t for the skills that I’ve developed in my genealogy hobby. This was the result of my recent successful efforts to find my birth parents, as detailed in Diary of an Adoptee, a category within this blog. 

My writing includes all of my interests, with the ultimate goal of writing a book. It’s carefully divided into categories, including Poetry, Sports, Adoption, Pets, Retirement, Running, and Travel. My daily topic varies within these categories to accommodate my mood or where I am in the world. We’ve moved into a downtown Portland apartment to eventually allow us to travel more and find a permanent retirement home hopefully near a warm beach. Portland was the end of both of our careers and not where we want to spend the rest of our lives. Despite the pleasant memories we’ve made here and the friends we’ll leave behind, it’s not our retirement nirvana. We’ll start taking the next steps in a week or so with a trip to Florida. Today, Friday the 13th, is also the start of the Twelve Days of Christmas. It’s an exciting time of the year! Hopefully, every day is a lucky Friday the 13th for the rest of our lives.