Another Year Older And Deeper In Debt
Oh, not the kind of debt that includes credit cards and mortgages.
Of course, I have that kind of debt.
But today is another birthday, and I’m deeper in debt because of all the people and things that help me cope – that help me be happy, when sometimes in this crazy year it would have been more natural to be miserable.
This has been a stressful year – natural disasters, divisive politics, senseless violence.
And yet, although I have moments of true sadness, I have not been unrelentingly sad.
More often, I’ve been happy.
So here is my Birthday Thank You List:
My Husband. He has always been able to keep me safe and build anything and fix everything and somehow even think I am pretty. But this year, I owe him an even more special thank-you. Because he showed me this year that there is no age limit on doing something crazy if it makes you happy. He’s 72. He bought a horse.
Moonlight and Tom
He also taught me once again that you can be as tough as you need to be when you need to be, all the while maintaining a soft heart. He taught me this because we still have all three kittens we were supposed to foster for just 10 days, six months ago.
My sisters. My sisters are just a few years older than I. And they are more than just funny as hell and understand everything about me – and so are the perfect friends. They are also a preview of my own future. In my current book-in-progress, the teenage girl watches everything her older sister does, and then watches the result to see if it’s something she might want to do too. I did that with my own sisters, but I didn’t have to worry about whether it would be wise to be like them – it always was. And since we are so alike, in them, I can see myself just a few years down the road… which is 70, OMG. But you know, thanks to my sisters, I think it looks pretty good.
Christine, Claudia, Mom & Me on Christmas Eve
And speaking of graceful aging, that’s my precious mother in the middle of her three girls. She’s 94 now. And in the past year (as in every year), she has given me her exquisite example of intelligence, independence, optimism, and a generosity of spirit.
This year I also say thank you to my good friend Chris – truly a bonus sister. This summer she invited me to her painting class. And oh my! I rediscovered my love for painting and it has given me satisfaction and pleasure every day since.
My watercolor of my best friend.
Theo. My best friend. (That’s his portrait above.) I know I wouldn’t be half as kind without him. Because he teaches me the simple happiness in living in the moment. And most of all, he’s taught me forgiveness. Not in how easily I forgive him, but in how readily and completely he forgives me. I lose my patience with him a dozen times a day. He never loses his patience with me. He loves me anyway.
And then there are all the friends – both personal and here on my writing space – that encourage me and always make me want to try just a little harder to do or say or write something that matters.
This is the first complete year that I have been retired from my career. And it is amazing how quickly the days go by. I enjoy being lazy – truly, there is no limit to the number candies I can crush. But thanks to my family and my friends, and all my blogging buddies here, it is also amazing how much I have accomplished. I have written 70 (!) blogs in the past year. AND – I can hardly believe it – published my second novel.
I am as proud of that book as anything I have done in my life. So thank you for your steadfast support and the joy of your friendship.
Some people can accomplish wonderful things in their youth. For me, it has taken a long time. It has taken a long time to become the writer I wanted to be. And it has taken me a long time to become the person I wanted to be. And less important (but still meaningful to me), it has taken me a long time to like my outsides as well as my insides.
Every year on my birthday, I publish an unretouched photo of myself. To tell the world – and myself – that Aging isn’t so bad.
So here I am – 67 today.
Hooray for Late Bloomers.
notquiteold 
Ooh! Am I the first? Happy birthday!
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Number One! (in my heart too)
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Happy Birthday!!
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Why do I feel that you could be one of my best friends? Is it because I have 4 older sisters I admire. My own Mom lived until 93 and we were as close as you are to your Mom. I will turn 60 this month and have been working on writing my own “thankful list”. When I read your posts… I savor the stories because I always can “relate”. Hmmmm ☺️
Thanks for being a new category of “best friend” and Happy Birthday 😘
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It amazes me sometimes to see how many of us are living similar lives. Human beings have a lot more in common than we sometimes think. Our experiences and our priorities reveal us all to be sisters! Thank you for writing, Sister!
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Happy beautiful excited thankful birthday! Loved this post and everything in it ~ MJ
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Thanks, MJ
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Beautiful inside and out and on in print! Happiest Birthday wishes!!
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Thank you!
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Happy Birthday Nancy. I love Theo’s portrait, and that is a wonderful photo of you all with your Mum.
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Thanks. I need to get Theo’s photo framed. Maybe I will do that today, as a birthday present to myself. And I do love that photo. I have a fantastic brother too… we need a good photo of all of us.
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Oh do! It will be so precious. 🙂
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I always smile when I see one of your posts in my Inbox! I often forward them to friends because they resonate so with me. I have two older sisters and our mom lived until age 96-1/2! I always looked up to my sisters and still do…at age 62. I loved your first book and look forward to reading Lucinda’s Solution. I only hope that 70 posts last year turns into more in the coming year. Happy Birthday!!
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Thank you Linda! We do share so much – crazy isn’t it? But good!. I hope you enjoy LUCINDA’S SOLUTION! It is inspired by my own family’s experience during the Influenza Pandemic of 1918.
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Happy birthday, Nancy, from a “late bloomer in progress.” You have a wonderful outlook on life!
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Thank you Becky. We are lucky indeed to be late bloomers. Imagine if your peak was already behind you!
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Happy Birthday Nancy!!
Great post. Love Theo’s portrait.
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Thanks Alex!
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Happy birthday, Nancy!
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Happy birthday Nancy! I very much enjoyed reading about your family – and the painting of Theo is amazing!
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Thank you. I’m happy you like the blog – and I have been enjoying my watercolor painting, after many years’ absence.
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Happy Birthday Nancy from a fellow late bloomer. Thanks for your lovely blog which inspires me to try to be a nicer person. You have a great knack for looking at the bigger picture, the silver lining, the good in everyday life. I admire that since it’s so easy to get distracted (especially these days) by the negative. Being retired is wonderful in so many ways!
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Thanks, Cathy. It makes me happy that you like the blog. I sometimes fail at being as kind as I want to be, but I always try to be the best version of myself.
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Happy birthday! Enjoyed this reflective post. Best wishes for the next year.
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Thank you so much.
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Happy Birthday all year long!
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Thanks.
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What a wonderful way of celebrating not just yourself but all the people who surround and support you. You are truly blessed. Love the doggie painting. Happy birthday!
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Thanks – I agree that I am very blessed.
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A good looking woman must be from growing up in bristol
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Oh, you sound like a Bristolite yourself! It was a very good place to grow up. Thanks.
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Love yourself for being you! you look great!
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Thank you to another Nancy. I am surprised that after so many years of hating the way I look, I find now that I am quite content. Some people (including me) just look better old, I guess.
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I felt that way too, I think as we age, we realize that it doesn’t matter too much, what other people think.
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Happy Birthday, Nancy!
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Hope it is a wonderful birthday, Nancy!
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Thanks Elyse!
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💙 you, and this, so much! Happy birthday!
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Thanks… love you too!
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You’re welcome. Now – what is going to be our next big adventure?
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When I was in my mom’s basement this week taking care of her laundry, I saw my old bike. Maybe we should take up bicycling again?
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There is a neat bike trail in Simsbury – also in Collinsville
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
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Happy Birthday and thank you. Thank you for such an inspirational piece. Thank you for reminding me that I have to keep pushing to accomplish what I want, that I can still write my book and that every day is another reason to be happy. Happy Birthday today and every day thereafter.
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The trick is to just keep going. You’ll get there. I surprised myself – in the best way, and now I have two novels – both published after I turned 60.
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Happy birthday to my favourite blogger 🙂
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Oh, Thank You! Praise from a Diva – how great is that!
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Happy, happy birthday! You may enjoy being ‘lazy,’ but I think your productivity is inspiring! I say this as the fellow mom of a young, mischievous dog. 🙂
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I never think I’m accomplishing anything until I look back. Then I feel a lot better! Good luck with your doggy… my Theo is a pest, but he is a wonderful pest.
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I am hoping your Birthday is as wonderful as you are in your posts! I always look forward to all you have to share with us! That includes your Beauty posts too!
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Oh thank you, and yes, I’ve decided to keep the beauty blog too – at least for a while.
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Happy Birthday, you are looking odd and so is your art,keep it up.
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I hope that is an autocorrect for good…. and that I am not TOO odd!
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Good was the intended word. Sorry about that. Hope you got a birthday laugh.
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I did laugh! But at my age, maybe odd should be the look I am going for!
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The keyboard on the computer is off..seriously driving me crazy. Odd is good as far as I am concerned.
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Happy Birthday to my fellow Aquarian (my bday was 2/6). You are having an amazing year so far! You have accomplished so much! Great job and please keep inspiring me 🙂
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Thanks so much for your kind words!
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😊
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Belated Happy Birthday Nancy! I have to thank you for writing such a lovely story of Lucinda. I am totally enthralled with it.
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I am so happy that you are enjoying the book. If you are so inclined, I hope you will consider writing a review for Amazon. Good reviews are so important to others making their buying decisions. (Plus authors feel just great too!) Thanks!
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To me, somewhat odd that none of your commenters mentioned that you, your mom, and your sisters gravitated to the red part of the color spectrum for that pic. And I know for a fact that it was not planned.
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Happy Birthday.
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Congratulations on the publication of your second book and on your birthday! Plus the painting of your dog is quite good…. You do have a lot to be thankful for, and thanks for taking the time to list them here. It makes us, your readers, do the same in our lives and realize that we have so much to be thankful for as well.
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Happy belated birthday, Nancy!
I’m happy to be your blog friend and always look forward to reading your interesting and thought-provoking posts. You have made me want to take up painting, too, when I retire in 3 years. The painting of Theo is great and I wonder if I could do something like that myself. The only painting I have ever done was one of those paint-by-number kits as a child – and it was a picture of a dog. I still have it.
I have noticed, too, that some people are especially beautiful as children, others are their most attractive as young women (beautiful swans), and others age better than their peers, as you have, both physically and spiritually. It’s your time to shine!
Thanks for always inspiring me to be a better version of myself.
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Happy Birthday, Nancy! Aging gracefully at its BEST! : )
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You are a renaissance woman. A modern Montaigne. Keep writing! Toni
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You look lovely…and the portrait of your dog is just great ☺
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You look awesome.. Happy belated birthday
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Bought Lucinda’s solution… enjoying so far
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I would like to say Hi and Happy Birthday as I am new to blogging. This is my first read and first post. I just turned 60 in December and am having quite a bit of trouble believing it. You look wonderful and not at all your age. Wonderful to hear of hour great relationship. I have been married for 37 years to my best friend. We have held each other up over raising 2 sons and aging. It has been quite a bit of a roller coaster of a life as most of us all have. I am looking forward to starting my own blog when I decide what it will be about and will continue to follow you. Thank you for reading.
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Thank you for reading my blog. I wish you the best with your own blog – I love blogging, and I hope you do too!
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