Birthdays and Anniversaries

I have this friend who is brilliant at Making Stuff Up. Like, as in, making something out of nothing. Not like God, but like, oh, say, Hallmark.

(God can make a tree. Hallmark can make Valentine's Day.)

So, her latest creation is Platinum Birthdays. (These are loosely based on the Golden Birthday concept.)
(Golden Birthdays are when your age and the day you were born are the same number. For example, my Golden birthday was when I turned one, because I was born on the 1st of June. Drew's golden birthday was the year he turned 9 because he was born on August 9th. And so on.) (You can see the benefit of being born later in the month as you can really cash in on the Golden Birthday concept as a teen or twenty-something-year-old.)

ANYway ... Platinum Birthdays occur when your age and your birth year line up. For example, I was born in 1961. SO the year I turn 61 will be my Platinum Year. There WILL be year long celebrations that year, I can assure you. Plans are underway.  (Clint was born in '87, so his Platinum Birthday will be the year he turns 87. Max's will be when he's 90. And Drew? When he's 94.)

So. Today.
Aug 22 is Heather's 57th birthday.
And she was born in 1957.
Hence. The Platinum Birthday.
Let the celebrations commence.


Today, Aug 22 is also my dad and mom's 55th Wedding Anniversary.

The kids are my cousins, John and Ruth. 

Happy Anniversary, dad and mom.
Thank you for being crazy about each other.




Three things I'm thankful for:

1. The internet.
Saw this today, and love it:

In 6 seconds you can kiss someone like you mean it.
In 6 seconds you can hold open a door.
In 6 seconds you can wait for a little straggler to catch up. “I’ll wait for you,” you can even say.

In 6 seconds you can take a deep breath.
In 6 seconds you can let it go. “It’s not worth it,” you can say.
In 6 seconds you can tuck a note in a lunch box or in a pocket. It takes 2 seconds to make a heart.

In 6 seconds you can say you’re sorry.
In 6 seconds you can cut yourself some slack.
In 6 seconds you can throw away that picture, that pair of pants, that inner bully that keeps you from loving this day, this you.

In 6 seconds you can feel the sunshine.
In 6 seconds you decide it’s time to stop looking back.
In 6 seconds you can whisper, “It’s gonna be okay,” to yourself or someone who’s scared.

I used to sound like a broken record. “I don’t have time,” I would always say. 
But then I realized what could happen in a mere 6 seconds.

It’s enough to make a bad day good …
It’s enough to bring life back to your weary bones …
It’s enough to remember what really matters in the midst of so much that doesn’t.

© Rachel Macy Stafford 2014


2. You know how there's always lists of notable young people to watch? Like, 30 Under 30, or 40 under 40? WELL. There's a new list in town. 50 over 50.
Here are some links of the stories of people who have re-invented themselves (near careers, new adventures) AFTER they turned 50. Inspiring:

Here are 10 of them.
Here are 10 more.


3. Proud to be a Canadian when I saw this ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. 
(Love watching all the 'famous' people's vids too...)
Sure hope ALS is getting some much needed funding with all this attention.)
* I just checked. Over 41 million has been raised. And they have more than 739,000 brand new donors.
I'd say the campaign was a success.

Shalom,
xo