Yesterday was the big day! Remember when it seemed so old?! Although I'm healthy, I have to admit that I do look old, and I often feel old. I have all these creases around my eyes, grey hairs, even in my eyebrows, dints on my thighs and butt, my children jiggle the back of my upper arm (like I used to do to my mother), and when I work out for any prolonged period of time, one part of my body of the other inevitably hurts. What do we have to look forward to? Crooked fingers and a wattle!
As birthdays should be, it was a time for family and food: steak, salmon, cake, Guiness and wine. Flowers arrived anonymously, which was a real treat. I haven't spent a lot of time trying to figure out who it was; have decided just to enjoy the fact that I have an admirer out there somewhere. I sure could have used them last week as I moped around feeling sorry for myself. The smell in my office is so strong that I think I'm going to have to move them to the house, where the smell can permeate a much larger space.
As I write this, I am finally listening to an April 30th NPR interview with
Gabriel Byrne where he so eloquently expresses himself on many topics, but mostly about his show, In Treatment, of which I am a huge fan. If I can figure out how to do so, I will copy a link in here so you can take 30mins and listen to them discuss the art of listening, the perils of celibacy and the ways in which the HBO series captures the hearts and minds of its audience. I'm hooked......mainly because I feel like some part of every character is a part of me. After two seasons of feeling an enormous affinity to the writing on In Treatment, I have come to understand that many people feel similarly. It can only be for one reason: we are all pretty much the same; life deals us many common experiences: love, pain, joy, grief, happiness, sadness, friendship, loneliness....we just have to figure out how best to deal with the cards we're given, and how we can make our time here on earth meaningful. At least, that's what I think I have to do. Here's the link to enlighten you:
Now I'm onto Joseph O'Neill's interview on his new novel, Netherland. One I will read this summer! As any good Canadian would, I have to comment on the great weather we've had, especially today. I was on the water, rowing in the 4-man crew by 540am on the flat, pristine, early morning water of the St-Lawrence River. The causeway's traffic gradually increases with our time on the water. Other rowers pass by, the ferry to Wolfe Island causes a wake that we are ever-mindful of, and the runners and cyclists share our enthusiasm for the unspoiled morning. By the time bloggers that row, sit down to write about their life that day, their backs and knees hurt, aching from the intense morning workout on their 40 year old bodies!!!
