SoCk Moments: My Socks Got Knocked Off!

So today is a rather significant day for me. Besides the anniversary of the day my mother's body was finally relieved of a rather overdue burden, it also signifies I've been breathing longer than I ever thought I would. Last year was significant, too, but this year feels totally different than any year has, I've ever yet experienced.

Birthdays are a funny thing. Every year, people in cultures all around the world commemorate/celebrate the anniversary of the day they were born. The ways people do this varies, but to my knowledge, even if a culture chooses not to "celebrate", per se, the day is a significant one, like it or not. It is generally expected that one should know, at the very least, how many years one has been on this earth.

For the record, I do know how many years I have been on this earth. Okay, well, let me amend that: I have seen my birth certificate, and therefore I am fairly confident I know how many years I have been galavanting relatively timidly on this planet. And I am also fairly confident that the number has risen slightly as the calendar gets ready to turn to June.

That reminds me of one experience I had when I was a kid. A boy was telling me there were only 30 days in May, and of course I was countering that there were 31. He was getting really fussed about it, too, adamant that he was right, while I was rather bewildered at his fussing, as there was no doubt in my mind, whatsoever, that there are most definitely 31 days in May. At some point I think he was about to lose it, so I told him why I know how many days there are in May. He stopped fussing, and that was the end of the argument.

Sometimes my birthday shares a time slot with the US Memorial Day, which isn't a bad thing. When I was a child, my grandmother would have me go out into her yard and cut flowers to wrap up to place on the graves of family all around the area, after we cleaned the weeds and such away and listened to stories of memories my grandmother, father or other family had remembered about them.

Back then, my feelings about this were varied, depending on the year and what else was going on, because sometimes it seemed . . . almost eerie, perhaps . . . to be celebrating the lives of those who died on the day I was celebrating my birth. Of course at the moment I just realized one day there will be a day when perhaps someone might be celebrating my life that day, as one who has also moved on. What an interesting thought!

Today's date also marks the end of a lot of sales, as it happens to fall pretty much smack-dab in the middle of the year. Therefore, if you haven't bought that thing you wanted, you're about out of time for that sale. Just a reminder. I like to be helpful.

Brief summary of the highlights of my birthday (with gratitude to my hosts and companions):
[ ] Saw a woman in her knickers. (Not something that I consider to be the most incredible experience ever, with all due respect to the woman in question. Mostly just posting this 'cuz I was told I "just have to!")
[ ] Got into a national park free (and yes, it was legal).
[ ] Scaled down a cliff to get to a cave to see an underwater cave inside (yeah, we knew that wouldn't make sense without context, but oh well). Climbed back up as I didn't want to stay there the rest of my life.
[ ] Had a "happy birthday" said to me in one of the sexiest accents in the world. (Nope, not gonna tell ya which one. ;) )
[ ] Fed a seagull that thought he was a dog. (Nah, I just don't feel like explaining. :P )
[ ] Used the first "composting toilet" I'd ever seen. (Again, not the highlight of my relatively young life *cough*.)
[ ] Discovered one of our wallets had been laying in the road for 3 hours & nobody had stolen it. (Whew!)
[ ] Got the perfect gift, the perfect ice cream & the best whanau mom & sisters to spend the day with! (Aww . . . )