Happy Birthday to Me

I celebrated my birthday alone, on the beach, the day after my arrival home.
The surf was calm, the sun was hot. The wine and the cigar were cheap,
but enjoyable. As I may have mentioned before, life is good at the beach.
I spent the day relaxing, reading, and accepting well wishes from family
members. (I did have to call some of them myself….)

A trip to the library provided an unexpected gift; "The Complete Sherlock Holmes,"
two volume set, was on the "everything free" table.
Dinner was at local seafood restaurant I hadn't tried before; fish is not a
favorite of some family members. "Crabby Bill's" provided an excellent
combination platter of mahi mahi, scallops, gonch fritter, and two martinis.
The staff even sang "Happy Birthday!" (Jennifer was celebrating the eleventh
anniversary of her birth.)
Then it was home to let my hair grow and patiently wait 2 days for my bride to
arrive; my best present being her presence.
And arrive she did, right on time. So much to celebrate, but nothing more
exciting than our new roles as blissfully retired snowbirds.
We have no place we have to be, and we know where our next meal is coming from.
Now we really test our compatibility; hopefully the last 40 years have
prepared us for wall to wall togetherness. (It's a big beach but a small condo.)
It's time for us to rigorously contnue to follow the marital guidelines that have
nurtured our relationship for so many years: appreciation for what we have,
compassion for each other's needs, and tolerance for each others incessantly
irritating behavior. Pat is annoyingly attractive. She also has been too generous
with her time and our money. It will be interesting to see how she adapts to this
phase of life, when she has lots more time and we have lots less money.
Among my character flaws, I acknowledge that I am excruciatingly charming and
unwittingly understated.
And so it goes………