I am forty years old today.
In the days leading to my birthday, I had been on the lookout for telltale signs. Aching joints, perhaps? Unsightly bulges? White hair? Memory lapses? Strangers calling me ale?
After conditional exes and a couple of hmmms, I have decided that I am nowhere near old. Thirty-nine may seem formidable, but 40? Heck, it’s nothing but a number!
For how can I be “old” when I shift to Dora the Explorer mode at bedtime? My TV viewing fare includes Little Bill and Out of the Box. By the bedside are The Valiant Little Tailor, No Jumping on the Bed, Blue’s Art Day and Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?
Sure the e-groups I have enrolled in have sections for “old photos.” I am getting too old for Starstruck and the Young VIP Club. I have memory boxes brimming with, well, memories of 19, 23, 27 years ago.
But “old?”
When I turned 29, with marriage and a family nowhere in sight, well-meaning (hah!) relatives nagged me incessantly about hurrying up because “malapit ka na mawala sa kalendaryo.”
Well, 29, 30 and 31 passed, and they weren’t so bad. True, you won’t find my age in the calendar anymore. But it’s still in lotto. And in ten years, it’d still be in Bingo.
7 comments:
hey Ana, happy happy birthday to you. it's never getting old, but "growing" old. ah, don't mind the numbers. with our kids around, i mean, their fondness and our fondness of Dora, Lil' Bill, etc, we will always be young at hearts anyway. :)
enjoy the day. :)
you're right. age is nothing but a number. as my friend used to say, "i'm a teen-ager trapped inside the body of a thirtysomething."
happy birthday!
Thanks Mommy Feng. So true, among others kids do keep us young at heart.
cheers. and a happy day to you, too!!!
Pillow girl! Thanks for the rah rah. Cheers!
Happy birthday, Anna! Better late than later, di ba?
So very well written, Anna!
Belated birthday hugs from one Leo to another. I turned 33 last week, but I don't feel any older. True, age is just a number.
A late happy birthday Tokayo. Nice to know I will still be in bingo for many years to come. That's real funny and creative! I will probbly visit often i hope your cheeriness rubs off. :)
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