Birthday

I received the best birthday gift ever this morning. When GiGi went out to get her Chronicle, there was a package on the front porch. I tore into it expecting a copy of the four generation picture, but it was so much better than that. The Shrink published a book ostensibly written by the Munchkin Princess. The title.... All About Me. This is a hardcover with a jacket and the whole thing is just too priceless.
I was in tears when I pulled it from the packaging. I am awed by the thoughtfulness of the daughter who put this work of art together. Every picture is perfectly chosen and the words are funny and touching, just so right.
I was thinking about being old...not getting, but actually being. It's not so bad. I like the way I look, a little fluffy, but with character. I like the way I feel, most of the time. Better than when I was in my forties and hormonal as hell.
This is a good time to be getting older. The baby boomers are going to be a bunch of old farts to be reckoned with. La Maze sent a photo of our elementary school class the other day. We look like something from a history book in our little plaid school frocks. But I recognize those children. When I look at current pictures on the class reunion website, I don't recognize some of those faces.
All the survivors of the class of '68 are way beyond the generation gap now. We are the parents, the grandparents, the doctors, lawyers, teachers, financial analysts and real estate tycoons. For so many years, I kept thinking that I had to figure something out about who or what I was trying to become. It was a feeling that lasted a lot longer than I thought it was supposed to. But suddenly today, it occurs to me that I don't have to keep working on that question.
Today when I opened that box from UPS and pulled out the book with my picture on the cover holding a wide eyed infant wrapped in a hospital blanket, I realized I'm there. I am what I'm going to be when I grow up. I'm a daughter, a sister, an ex-wife, a mother, an aunt, a godmother, a grandmother, and a friend. I'm a teacher. I'm funny and smart and now I'm fifty-eight years old and still a child of God.